On behalf of Patrick and Amy Kennedy, we are sharing the news of the passing of Patrick’s mother, Joan Bennett Kennedy.
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Joan Bennett Kennedy, former wife of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), classical pianist, music teacher, and advocate for mental health and addiction services, passed away peacefully in her sleep at her home in Boston, Massachusetts on October 8, 2025 at the age of 89.
Mrs. Kennedy was married to Senator Kennedy for 24 years, and was the mother to his three children, Kara, Ted, Jr., and Patrick. Raised in a conservative republican home, her life quickly changed when she married Ted Kennedy in 1958, just as the Kennedys were accelerating their political lives. By 1962, at the age of 25, she became the youngest wife of the youngest U.S. Senator ever elected in the history of the United States.
Playing the piano instantly became her trademark while campaigning with the Kennedys, where she would frequently open the political rallies and warm up the crowd with her piano serenades. After her divorce from Senator Kennedy in 1982, she moved from Washington to Boston to escape the media spotlight, pursue a Master’s Degree in Musical Education from Lesley University, become a music teacher, and focus on her new sobriety. As a classically trained and accomplished musician, she regularly performed with orchestras all over the world, spreading her message about the transformational power of music and the need for equitable access to arts education for all K-12 students. She became active with local Boston arts organizations, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Council for the Arts and Humanities. In 1992, she wrote the best-selling book, The Joy of Classical Music, to demystify the genre and make classical music more accessible to all listeners.
Mrs. Kennedy became one of the first prominent women in America to publicly acknowledge her struggles with alcoholism and depression, a move that she felt was essential to breaking the silence and tackling the taboo of addiction in the 1970s. Her honesty and candor, and her ability to successfully recreate her life in Boston, a community that supported her privacy and embraced her recovery, made her an inspiration to countless other women facing similar challenges.
She is survived by two children, Ted Kennedy, Jr., and former Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI), 9 grandchildren, 1 great-grandchild, over 30 nieces and nephews, and a sister, Candace (Candy) McMurrey, of Houston, TX. Her daughter, Kara, died in 2011.
“I will always admire my mother for the way that she faced up to her challenges with grace, courage, humility, and honesty. She taught me how to be more truthful with myself and how careful listening is a more powerful communication skill than public speaking,” said Ted Kennedy, Jr.
“Besides being a loving mother, talented musician, and instrumental partner to my father as he launched his successful political career, Mom was a power of example to millions of people with mental health conditions. She will be missed not just by the entire Kennedy Family, but by the arts community in the City of Boston and the many people whose lives that she touched,” said Patrick Kennedy.
“Joan was an accomplished pianist and possessed an impressive knowledge of the classical music repertoire. Her dedication to the Boston Pops Orchestra, and especially to the young people of Boston, will have a lasting impact. She will be greatly missed and will always be regarded as a member of our Boston Symphony Family,” said John Williams, Conductor Laureate of the Boston Pops.
