Michael LeMoyne Kennedy (February 27, 1958 – December 31, 1997) was an American lawyer, businessman, and activist in Massachusetts. He was the sixth of eleven children of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy. Kennedy also served as the manager of the non-profit organization Citizens Energy. He died in Aspen, Colorado, in 1997 after inadvertently skiing into a tree.
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Early life, family, and education
Michael LeMoyne Kennedy was born on February 27, 1958, in Washington, D.C. He was named LeMoyne for Kirk LeMoyne Billings, the preparatory school roommate of his paternal uncle, John F. Kennedy, and a Kennedy family friend. He was five years old when his uncle was assassinated and ten years old when his father was assassinated. Kennedy spent his childhood between the family's homes in McLean, Virginia, and Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
Kennedy graduated from Harvard College in 1980 and subsequently earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1984. While in college, he was credited with recovering a stolen wristwatch from a thief while on a sightseeing tour in Colombia. In 1985, Kennedy was admitted to the Massachusetts bar.
Kennedy married Victoria Denise Gifford, daughter of former NFL player and sportscaster Frank Gifford, on March 14, 1981 in New York City. They had one son, Michael LeMoyne Kennedy Jr. (b. 1983); and two daughters, Kyle Francis Kennedy (b. 1984) and Rory Gifford Kennedy (b. 1987). The family resided in Cohasset, Massachusetts.