The founder of the Special Olympics movement and sister of former US president John F Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, has died in hospital in Massachusetts at the age of 88.
Her family said in a statement she had suffered a series of strokes in recent years and died died at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis this morning.
Her husband Sargent Shriver, her five children and all 19 of her grandchildren were by her side, the statement said.
"She was the light of our lives, a mother, wife, grandmother, sister and aunt who taught us by example and with passion what it means to live a faith-driven life of love and service to others," the family said. "Her work transformed the lives of hundreds of millions of people across the globe and they in turn are her living legacy."
She was born July 10th, 1921, the middle child of the nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and his wife, Rose.
As a child, she wanted to compete athletically against her brothers, including John, who would be elected president in 1960 and assassinated in 1963; Robert, a New York senator whose presidential bid ended with his assassination in 1968; and Edward, who has served as senator from Massachusetts for more than 45 years and was diagnosed ith brain cancer last year.
Mrs Shriver was always a part of her Democratic brothers' political campaigns but her advocacy work crossed party lines. Republican president Ronald Reagan praised her "enormous conviction and unrelenting effort ... on behalf of America's least powerful people" in 1984 when he awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honour.
Well into her 80s, Mrs Shriver still was seen in the halls of the US Capitol seeking support for her cause.
She started the Special Olympics Games in 1968 to foster fitness and self-esteem for those with intellectual disability. Her concern was attributed to her relationship with older sister Rosemary, who spent the majority of her life in long-time care facility.
"I had enormous affection for Rosie," Mrs Shriver said in a National Public Radio interview in 2007. "If I [had] never met Rosemary, never known anything about handicapped children, how would I have ever found out? Because nobody accepted them any place."
The genesis for the Special Olympics was the summer camps that Mrs Shriver put on herself for children at her family's Maryland estate. In 1968 she opened the first US Special Olympics games and 40 years later the event had grown to include 190 countries.
The Special Olympics was held in Ireland in 2003.
“Today we celebrate the life of a woman who had the vision to create our movement,” said Special Olympics president Brady Lum. “In her memory, we will continue to work to bring her powerful vision to life to change the lives of those with intellectual disabilities, their families and communities, using sports as the catalyst for respect, acceptance and inclusion.”
In addition to athletic competition, the Special Olympics became a public service organisation that advocated research, rights and better care for its constituents. Her son Timothy became the organisation's chairman.
The Shrivers' other children are Maria, a former television journalist who married California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger; Bobby, a lawyer and philanthropist; Mark, a former Maryland state legislator now in charity work; and Anthony, who also founded a group to help people with mental handicap.
The hospital where Mrs Shriver died is near the Kennedy family compound, where her sole surviving brother, Senator Edward Kennedy, has been battling a brain tumour.
Senator Kennedy said his earliest memory of his sister was as a young girl "with great humour, sharp wit, and a boundless passion to make a difference.
"She understood deeply the lesson our mother and father taught us - much isexpected of those to whom much has been given," he said in a statement. "Throughout her extraordinary life, she touched the lives of millions, and for Eunice that was never enough."
President Barack Obama said Ms Shriver will be remembered as "a champion for people with intellectual disabilities, and as an extraordinary woman who, as much as anyone, taught our nation - and our world - that no physical or mental barrier can restrain the power of the human spirit".
With Eunice Shriver's death, Jean Kennedy Smith becomes the last surviving Kennedy daughter.
Agencies