Kennedy Family Is Mourning the Sudden Death of RFK Granddaughter Saoirse Hill

The flag flies at half staff outside the home of Sen. Edward Kennedy at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009. (AP File Photo/Stew Milne)

The Kennedy family is in mourning today following the sudden death of 22-year-old Saoirse Kennedy Hill after an apparent overdose.

Kennedy Hill, who was the granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, was found unresponsive Thursday afternoon at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port after police were reportedly called to the home around 2:30 p.m., according to police records cited by the Boston Globe.

“Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse. Her life was filled with hope, promise and love,” reads a statement from the Kennedy family. “She lit up our lives with her love, her peals of laughter and her generous spirit. Saoirse was passionately moved by the causes of human rights and women’s empowerment and found great joy in volunteer work, working alongside indigenous communities to build schools in Mexico. We will love her and miss her forever.”

 

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Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse. Her life was filled with hope, promise and love. She cared deeply about friends and family, especially her mother Courtney, her father Paul, her stepmother Stephanie, and her grandmother Ethel, who said, “The world is a little less beautiful today.” She lit up our lives with her love, her peals of laughter and her generous spirit. Saoirse was passionately moved by the causes of human rights and women’s empowerment and found great joy in volunteer work, working alongside indigenous communities to build schools in Mexico. We will love her and miss her forever.

A post shared by Kerry Kennedy (@kerrykennedyrfk) on Aug 1, 2019 at 10:41pm PDT

Ethel Kennedy, her grandmother and RFK’s widow, said in the statement that, “The world is a little less beautiful today.”

Boston College, where Kennedy Hill was a communications major in the Class of 2020, described her in statement as a “gifted student” and offered words of sympathy. “We extend our condolences to her family on this tragic loss,” the college said. Cousin Maria Shriver also posted about the loss on Twitter, saying “Today, may you walk out in Love. May you walk out into the world with compassion and tenderness. We all need tenderness and we can all bestow it.”

Today, may you walk out in Love. May you walk out into the world with compassion and tenderness. We all need tenderness and we can all bestow it.

— Maria Shriver (@mariashriver) August 2, 2019

She was the daughter of Paul Michael Hill and Courtney Kennedy Hill. Congressman Joe Kennedy III is her cousin.