Edward Moore Kennedy Jr. (born September 26, 1961) is an American lawyer and politician. He is a partner at Epstein Becker & Green, a firm headquartered in New York City, and previously represented

Connecticut's 12th State Senate district Connecticut's 12th State Senate district elects one member of the Connecticut State Senate. The district consists of the New England town, towns of Branford, Connecticut, Branford, North Branford, Connecticut, North Branford, Durham, Connecticut, ...

in the

Connecticut State Senate The Connecticut State Senate is the upper house of the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The state senate comprises 36 members, each representing a district with around 99,280 inhabitants. Sena ...

from 2015 to 2019. He is a son of

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

member

Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts who served as a member of the United States Senate from 1962 to his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic Party and ...

from

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

and a nephew of President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

and Senator

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New Yo ...

Early life and education

Kennedy was born in the

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

section of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

to U.S. Senator

and

Joan Bennett Kennedy Virginia Joan Kennedy ( Bennett, born September 2, 1936) is an American socialite. She was the first wife of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy. Early life Virginia Joan Bennett was born at Mother Cabrini Hospital in New York City. She was raised in a ...

during the presidency of his paternal uncle, John. He is the brother of

Kara Kara or KARA may refer to: Geography Localities * Kara, Chad, a sub-prefecture * Kára, Hungary, a village * Kara, Uttar Pradesh, India, a township * Kara, Iran, a village in Lorestan Province * Kara, Republic of Dagestan, a rural locality in ...

(19602011) and Patrick J. Kennedy (born 1967). In 1973, when Kennedy was twelve,

osteosarcoma An osteosarcoma (OS) or osteogenic sarcoma (OGS) is a cancerous tumor in a bone. Specifically, it is an aggressive malignant neoplasm that arises from primitive transformed cells of mesenchyme, mesenchymal origin (and thus a sarcoma) and that exhi ...

(a form of bone cancer) was diagnosed in his right leg. After rounds of

Chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

failed to kill the cancer, the leg was surgically

amputated Amputation is the removal of a limb or other body part by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is ...

on November 17, 1973. On that same day, his father had escorted his niece Kathleen down the aisle at her wedding and rushed back to the hospital. A made-for-TV movie, ''The Ted Kennedy Jr. Story'' (1986), concentrated on this event in young Kennedy's life. In 1982, his mother, Joan, revealed that Kennedy missed being aboard

Air Florida Flight 90 Air Florida Flight 90 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated from Washington National Airport (now Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport) to Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport, with an intermediate stopover at T ...

by just ten minutes, which crashed into the Potomac River on January 13 of that year, killing 74 people. Kennedy was delayed on the drive to the airport and missed the flight. Kennedy graduated from the private St. Albans School, in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

After completing a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

in 1984, he continued his studies at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, earning a master's degree from the

School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Yale School of the Environment (YSE) is a professional school of Yale University. It was founded to train foresters, and now trains environmental students through four 2-year degree programs ( Master of Environmental Management, Master of Environ ...

. He then attended the

University of Connecticut School of Law The University of Connecticut School of Law (UConn Law) is the law school associated with the University of Connecticut and located in Hartford, Connecticut. It is the only public law school in Connecticut and one of only four in New England. As ...

at night, earning a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree. On May 19, 2013, Kennedy received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the

University of New Haven The University of New Haven (UNH) is a private university in West Haven, Connecticut, United States. History The University of New Haven was founded in 1920 as the New Haven YMCA Junior College, a division of Northeastern University, which sha ...

Career

After graduation he worked at the New Haven

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise consumer, clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and Obligation, respon ...

Wiggin & Dana specializing in

disability Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be Cognitive disability, cognitive, Developmental disability, d ...

issues. He later co-founded and served as president of the Marwood Group, a firm that advises corporations about health care and financial services. He left the Marwood Group in 2014 to join the law firm of Epstein Becker & Green where he advises health care providers, commercial insurers, and life science companies on critical issues related to health care reform policies. Kennedy is the Chairman of the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

of the American Association of People with Disabilities.

Political career

On April 8, 2014, Kennedy announced his candidacy for a seat in the

representing the state's 12th district. He was elected on November 4. He was re-elected on November 8, 2016. In both election cycles, Kennedy defeated Bruce Wilson Jr. On June 26, 2017, Kennedy announced that he would not run for

Governor of Connecticut The governor of Connecticut is the head of government of Connecticut, and the commander-in-chief of the U.S. state, state's Connecticut Military Department, military forces. The Governor (United States), governor has a duty to enforce state laws, ...

in 2018. On February 28, 2018, Kennedy announced he would not seek re-election to the State Senate. On November 6, 2018, Democrat

Christine Cohen Christine Hunter Cohen (born January 25, 1976) is an American politician. She was a member of the Guilford, Connecticut school board from 2015 to 2019, when she resigned to serve on the Connecticut State Senate from the Connecticut's 12th State S ...

won the general election to replace Kennedy after defeating Republican Adam Greenberg. She was sworn in on January 9, 2019.

State Senate

Kennedy was first sworn in to serve in the Connecticut State Senate on January 7, 2015. Committee assignments * Committee on the Environment (Senate Co-chair) * Committee on Internship (Ranking Member) * Committee on Public Health * Committee on Transportation Party leadership * Deputy Majority Leader

Personal life

On October 10, 1993, Kennedy married Katherine Anne "Kiki" Gershman (born 1959) on

Block Island Block Island is an island of the Outer Lands coastal archipelago in New England, located approximately south of mainland Rhode Island and east of Long Island's Montauk Point. The island is coterminous with the town of New Shoreham, Rhode Isl ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

. She is an assistant

clinical professor Clinical professor, sometimes known as professor of practice, is an academic appointment made to a member of a profession who is associated with a university or other academic body, and engages in practical (clinical) instruction of students (e ...

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...

at the

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the medical school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. It is the sixth-oldest m ...

and an environmental advocate. She serves as spokeswoman for Stop the Pipeline, which successfully blocked the Islander East natural gas pipeline across the

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...

. They live in Branford, Connecticut. The couple have a daughter, Kiley Elizabeth Kennedy (born August 7, 1994, in New Haven), a competitive snowboarder who graduated from

in 2016, and a son, Edward Moore Kennedy III (born February 26, 1998, in New Haven), who graduated from

Choate Rosemary Hall Choate Rosemary Hall ( ) is a Independent school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational, College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1890, it took its present na ...

in 2016 and from

in 2020. Kennedy gave a tribute at his father's public funeral on August 29, 2009.Video (August 29, 2009).
"Kennedy Jr. on His Dad"
''

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

'''s module at

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. Accessed September 1, 2009.

References

External links

marwoodgroup.com
Marwood Group official website * * (Boston, Massachusetts)
Connecticut Senate page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Edward M. Jr. 1961 births 21st-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly American amputees American people of Irish descent American politicians with disabilities Businesspeople from New York (state) Connecticut lawyers Democratic Party Connecticut state senators Edward Moore Lawyers from Boston Lawyers from New Haven, Connecticut Living people Politicians from Boston Politicians from New Haven, Connecticut St. Albans School (Washington, D.C.) alumni Ted Kennedy University of Connecticut School of Law alumni Wesleyan University alumni Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies alumni American lawyers with disabilities