Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a sister of President John, Attorney General Robert, and Senator Ted Kennedy, as well as the founder of the Special Olympic games for children and adults with physical and developmental disabilities, has died.  She was 88 years old.

One of the last remaining matriarchs of the Kennedy family, Eunice was the fifth of nine children of former US Ambassador to the United Kingdom Joseph Kennedy and Rose Kennedy.  President John Kennedy was her elder by four years, Robert and Edward her junior by four and eleven years, respectively.

In 1953, just four months after her older brother took office as Senator from Massachusetts, Eunice married Robert Sargent Shriver.  Shriver became the first director of the Peace Corps in 1961, and Ambassador to France shortly before Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.  In 1972, he ran in the vice presidential slot on George McGovern's presidential ticket.  Shriver is still alive today, though he suffers from advanced Alzheimer's disease.

After a young adulthood surrounded by politics, Eunice turned to philanthropy.  In 1968, she helped nationalize the Special Olympics movement.  Largely inspired by her sister Rosemary, who was permanently mentally disabled, Eunice became one of the most well-known figures nationwide in the movement to secure greater care and respect for a forgotten segment of American society.  But her work went far beyond the games.  She was the founder of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (a part of the NIH), which was renamed for her in 2008. 

For her incredible contributions to humankind, she has been recognized worldwide irrespective of partisan politics.  She was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan, and the Theodore Roosevelt Award by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.  She became the only living woman to have her portrait emblazoned on American currency in 1995, when she was honored with a special edition of the silver dollar. 

In 2009, she became the only woman who was not First Lady ever to have her portrait commissioned by the Smithsonian.  Artist David Lenz dedicated the work to her lifetime of care for those with intellectual disabilities.

Shriver was a mother of five: Maria Shriver Schwarzenegger, Robert "Bobby" Shriver, Tim Shriver, Mark Shriver, and Anthony Shriver.  With her passing, only the two youngest Kennedys from her generation survive today: Ted and Jean.

EyesOnObama.com would like to extend heartfelt condolences to the Kennedy and Shriver families for the loss of a truly incredible woman.