Search results
Eunice Kennedy Shriver was an American philanthropist and a member of the Kennedy family. She founded the Special Olympics, a sports organization for persons with intellectual disabilities, and received many awards and honors for her work.
Aug 7, 2024 · Learn about the life and achievements of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of President John F. Kennedy and the founder of the Special Olympics. Explore her social work, awards, and family background from this comprehensive article.
- Pat Bauer
Learn how Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of President John F. Kennedy, founded Special Olympics in 1968 to promote justice and inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities. Discover her achievements, awards, and legacy as a social worker, researcher, and activist.
- Early life and education
- Early career
- Marriage
- Philanthropy
- Origin
- Later years
- Honors and awards
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
Eunice Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on July 10, 1921, the fifth of Rose and Joseph Kennedys nine children and their third daughter. She attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart School in Noroton, Connecticut, and Manhattanville College, and received a B.S. degree in sociology from Stanford University in 1943.
Following graduation, she served in the Special War Problems Division of the Department of State, and then headed a juvenile delinquency project in the Department of Justice. In 1950, she became a social worker at the Penitentiary for Women in Alderson, West Virginia, and the following year she moved to Chicago, Illinois to work with the House of t...
In 1953, she married Robert Sargent Shriver Jr., a graduate of Yale University and Yale Law School and former Navy officer who had joined her father's firm in Chicago, the Merchandise Mart, in 1948. The Shrivers had five children: Robert III, Maria, Timothy, Mark, and Anthony.
In 1957, Mrs. Shriver took over the direction of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, established in 1946 as a memorial to her oldest brother, who had been killed in World War II. The Foundations goals were to help prevent mental retardation by identifying its causes, and to improve the means by which society deals with citizens who have mental re...
In 1968, working with the Chicago Park District, the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation planned and underwrote the First International Special Olympics Summer Games, held in Chicago's Soldier Field, where 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities from 26 states and Canada competed in athletics. In December 1968, Special Olympics, Inc. was establi...
Up until the time of her passing, Mrs. Shriver continued to be a member of the Special Olympics Board of Directors and continued to work to improve the lives of people with intellectual disabilities, but was no longer involved in the day-to-day management of Special Olympics.
Mrs. Shriver was recognized throughout the world for her leadership on behalf of persons with intellectual disabilities, and received numerous honors and awards, including: the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Legion of Honor, the Prix de la Couronne Francaise, the Mary Lasker Award, the Philip Murray-William Green Award (presented to Eunice and ...
Learn about the life and achievements of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of President John F. Kennedy and the founder of Special Olympics. She was a social worker, a philanthropist, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Aug 12, 2009 · Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a member of one of the most prominent families in American politics and a trailblazer in the effort to improve the lives of people with intellectual disabilities, died...
People also ask
Who is Eunice Shriver?
Is Eunice Kennedy Shriver dead or still alive?
Who was Eunice Kennedy Shriver?
Did Eunice Kennedy Shriver have a sister?
Aug 11, 2009 · Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of President John F. Kennedy and a champion of the disabled who founded the Special Olympics, died Tuesday, the Special Olympics said. She was 88.