Jean Kennedy Smith, the last surviving sibling of President John F. Kennedy and a former ambassador to Ireland, has died aged 92, her daughter confirmed.
Ms Smith died at her home in Manhattan, her daughter Kym told the New York Times.
Ms Smith was the eighth of nine children born to Joseph P. and Rose Kennedy, and she tragically outlived several of them by decades.
Her siblings included older brother Joseph Kennedy Jr, killed in action during the Second World War; Kathleen “Kick’ Kennedy, who died in a 1948 plane crash; the president, assassinated in 1963 and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, murdered in 1968.
Senator Edward Kennedy, the youngest of the Kennedy siblings, died of brain cancer in August 2009, the same month their sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver died.
In a statement today, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: “I am deeply saddened to learn of the death of Jean Kennedy Smith, a proud Irish-American and a true friend to Ireland. She used her office to deepen and strengthen the already strong bonds between our two countries.
“From 1993 to 1998, Jean served as US Ambassador to Ireland under President Bill Clinton’s administration. She proved an extraordinary diplomat during the crucial years leading up to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, building lasting relationships with all sides and becoming an instrumental figure in the Northern Ireland Peace Process.
“Her courageous and determined diplomacy helped to bring peace to our island, built bridges, opened doors to all communities, and to all those striving for peace when peace was not a certainty.
“In 1998 Jean Kennedy Smith was conferred with honorary Irish citizenship in recognition of her service to this island. In 2009, along with her brother Ted Kennedy, she was awarded the prestigious Tipperary Peace Prize for her contribution to the Northern Ireland Peace Process.
“Jean’s influence and work extended well beyond her career as a diplomat. In 2011, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama for her work with children with intellectual and physical disabilities.
“I offer my sincerest condolences to Jean’s family and friends. I also salute her enduring legacy, to peace in Northern Ireland and to the many thousands of lives she has touched throughout her remarkable lifetime.”
Ms Smith, who married Kennedy family financial adviser and future White House chief of staff Stephen Edward Smith in 1956, was viewed for much of her life as a quiet sister who shunned the spotlight.
In her memoir The Nine Of Us, published in 2016, she wrote that for much of the time her childhood seemed “unexceptional”.
“It is hard for me to fully comprehend that I was growing up with brothers who eventually occupy the highest offices of our nation, including president of the United States,” she explained.
“At the time, they were simply my playmates.
“They were the source of my amusement and the objects of my admiration.”
Though she never ran for office, she campaigned for her brothers, travelling the country for then-senator John F. Kennedy as he sought the presidency in 1960.
In 1963, she stepped in for a travelling Jacqueline Kennedy and co-hosted a state dinner for Ireland’s president.
The same year, she accompanied her brother, the first Irish Catholic president, on his famous visit to Ireland.
Their great-grandfather, Patrick Kennedy, was from Dunganstown in County Wexford in southeastern Ireland.
Three decades later, she was appointed ambassador to Ireland by President Bill Clinton, who called her “as Irish as an American can be”.
During her confirmation hearing, she recalled the trip with her brother, describing it as “one of the most moving experiences of my own life.”
As ambassador, she played a role in the Northern Ireland peace process.
She helped persuade Mr Clinton to grant a controversial visa in 1994 to Gerry Adams, chief of the Irish Republican Army-linked Sinn Féin party.
The move defied the British government, which branded Mr Adams as a terrorist.
She later called criticism of her actions toward the IRA “unfortunate” and said she thought history would credit the Clinton administration with helping the peace process in Northern Ireland.
Ireland’s then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said in 1998 that “it is not an understatement to say that if (the visa for Adams) didn’t happen at the time, perhaps other events may not have fallen into place”.
In 1996, though, Ms Smith had been reprimanded by Secretary of State Warren Christopher for punishing two of her officers who objected to the visa for Mr Adams.
In December 1998, Ms Smith again risked controversy by taking communion in a Protestant cathedral in Dublin, going against the bishops of her Roman Catholic church.
Her decision was a strong personal gesture of support for Irish President Mary McAleese, a fellow Catholic who had been criticized by Irish bishops for joining in the Protestant communion service.
“Religion, after all, is about bringing people together,” Ms Smith told The Irish Times.
“We all have our own way of going to God.”
When she stepped down as ambassador in 1998, she received Irish citizenship for “distinguished service to the nation”.
Diplomacy, along with politics, also ran in the Kennedy family.
Her father was ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1940.
Niece Caroline Kennedy served as ambassador to Japan during the Obama administration.
“We’re the first father-daughter ambassadors,” Ms Smith told The Irish Times in 1997.
“So I can’t remember a time when we were not an actively political family.”
In 1974, Ms Smith founded Very Special Arts, an education program that supports artists with physical or mental disabilities.
Her 1993 book with George Plimpton, Chronicles Of Courage: Very Special Artists, features interviews with disabled artists.
The program followed in the footsteps of her sister Eunice’s creation of the Special Olympics for disabled athletes.
Ms Smith and her husband had four children, Stephen Jr, William, Amanda and Kym.
Her husband died in 1990.
Her son, Dr William Kennedy Smith, made headlines in 1991, when he was charged with rape at the Kennedy estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
He was acquitted after a highly publicized trial that included evidence from his uncle, Senator Edward Kennedy, who had roused his nephew and son to go to some nightclubs that Easter weekend.
Among Ms Smith’s other siblings, Rosemary died in 2005; and Patricia in 2006.
“Certainly a distinct characteristic of our family was its size,” Ms Smith wrote in her memoir.
“A child in a big family constantly feels surrounded and supported.
“For me, there was always someone to play with or someone to talk to just around the corner, out on the porch, or in the next bedroom.
“I never felt alone.”