Fifth of nine children of Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy
Mother-in-law of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Children: Robert (b. 1954), Maria (b. 1955), Timothy (b. 1959), Mark (b. 1964) and Anthony (b. 1965).
Sister of former US President John F. Kennedy and senators Robert F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy.
Daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Kennedy.
Mother of Robert Shriver.
Aunt of Christopher Lawford
Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1998.
Founded the Special Olympics in 1968.
She was the first living American woman to be portrayed on U.S. legal tender (the Special Olympic coins of 1995).
Sister of Jean Kennedy Smith
With the death of Rosemary Kennedy on January 7, 2005, she is the oldest living child of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Kennedy.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver discusses her life and legacy
Eunice Kennedy Shriver Detailed Biography -
On May 23, 1953, she married Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr., who was U.S. ambassador to France from 1968 to 1970, and was Democratic vice-presidential candidate in 1972. They had five children:
Robert Sargent Shriver III (b. April 28, 1954), Yale Law School graduate and former part-owner of Baltimore Orioles
Maria Owings Shriver (b. November 6, 1955), TV anchorwoman and wife of California's Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Timothy Perry Shriver (b. August 29, 1959), chairman of the Special Olympics
Mark Kennedy Shriver (b. February 17, 1964), Democratic politician who served as a member of the House of Delegates in the Maryland legislature for eight years. In 2002 made an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Congress
Anthony Paul Kennedy Shriver (b. July 20, 1965), activist for the mentally retarded and chairman of Best Buddies International, a friendship program for people with intellectual disabilities.
She actively campaigned for her older brother John F. Kennedy, and supported Arnold Schwarzenegger's successful bid for governor of California in 2003.
She helped Ann McGlone Burke nationalize the Special Olympics movement in 1968.
She is the only living woman whose portrait appears on a U.S. coin, the 1995 commemorative Special Olympics Silver Dollar.
She grew up and owns a home in the fabled Kennedy Compound. She attended Manhattanville College in Purchase NY
Upon the death of Rosemary Kennedy on January 7, 2005, Eunice Kennedy became the oldest surviving child of Joseph and Rose Kennedy.
