JEAN Kennedy Smith, former US President John F. Kennedy's sister who helped forge peace in Northern Ireland, has died at 92.
Her daughter, Kym, confirmed her death to the New York Times.
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She died at her home in Manhattan on Wednesday, her daughter said.
Smith was the last surviving sibling of JFK, who was assassinated in 1963.
She was the eighth of nine kids born to Joseph P. and Rose Kennedy.
Smith and her husband Stephen Edward Smith were married in 1956.
The couple had four children together: Stephen Jr., William, Amanda and Kym.
Her husband, the Kennedy family financial adviser and later the White House Chief of Staff, died in 1990 of lung cancer.
Smith helped bring peace to Northern Ireland while serving as the country's ambassador under President Bill Clinton.
She was given Irish citizenship in 1998 when she stepped down as ambassador for “distinguished service to the nation.”
Smith also founded an educational program that gives support to artists with disabilities.
She co-authored a book with George Plimpton, Chronicles of Courage: Very Special Artists, which featured interviews with artists who are disabled.
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In 2010, Smith was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama.
Smith also wrote a memoir titled: The Nine of Us.
In her book, published in 2016, she said much of 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,” Smith wrote.
“At the time, they were simply my playmates.
"They were the source of my amusement and the objects of my admiration," she said.
In addition to JFK serving as president, her brother Robert F. Kennedy served as the US Attorney General and later as a New York Senator.
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Her brother, Edward "Ted" Kennedy, also served as a Senator for Massachusetts for nearly 47 years.
Several members of the Kennedy family have suffered tragic deaths at a young age.
Earlier this year, Robert F Kennedy’s granddaughter Maeve, and her 8-year-old son Gideon, died in a boating accident.