Mary Richardson Kennedy

Mary Richardson Kennedy
Born	Mary Kathleen Richardson October 4, 1959 Bayonne, New Jersey United States
💀Died	May 16, 2012(2012-05-16) (aged 52–53) Bedford, New York United StatesMay 16, 2012(2012-05-16) (aged 52–53)
🏳️ Nationality	American
🏫 Education	The Putney School Rhode Island School of Design
🎓 Alma mater	Brown University
💼 Occupation	interior designer, architect, philanthropist
👩 Spouse(s)	Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
👶 Children	4 (including Kyra)
👴 👵 Parents	John F. Richardson (father) Nancy Higgins (mother)
Family	Kennedy family

Mary Kathleen Kennedy, née Richardson, (October 4, 1959 – May 16, 2012) was an American interior designer, architect, and philanthropist. She was a proponent of green building and was a co-founder of the Food Allergy Initiative, the largest fund for food allergy research in the United States. Her 2010 legal separation from her husband, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., was highly publicized. Her subsequent suicide in 2012 also received national media attention.

Early life

Mary Kathleen Richardson was raised in Bayonne, New Jersey. Her father, John F. Richardson, was an attorney and a professor at Stevens Institute of Technology and her mother, Nancy Higgins, was a public school English teacher. She had four sisters and two brothers.

Richardson attended The Putney School, where she became friends and roommates with Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy. She later roomed with Kennedy in college and served as her maid of honor at her wedding in 1990 to Andrew Cuomo. She graduated from Brown University and studied architectural design at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Later life

Richardson married Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the brother of Kerry Kennedy, on April 15, 1994, aboard a research vessel on the Hudson River. They had four children: John Conor Richardson Kennedy, Kyra LeMoyne Kennedy, William Finbar Kennedy, and Aidan Caohman Vieques Kennedy. She was the stepmother of Robert Francis Kennedy III and Kathleen Rose Kennedy, her husband's two children from his previous marriage to Emily Ruth Black.

Richardson worked for the design firm Parrish Hadley as an architectural designer. Her work involved green building practices and was certified through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. In 1998 she co-founded the Food Allergy Initiative, the largest private fund for food allergy research in the United States.

On May 12, 2010, her husband filed for divorce. Three days later she was arrested and charged with driving under the influence. She reportedly struggled with alcoholism and substance abuse. A court ordered that full temporary custody of her children be granted to her estranged husband.

Death

On May 16, 2012, Richardson was found dead at her home in Bedford, New York. Her death was ruled as a suicide by hanging. An autopsy report revealed that she had antidepressants in her blood system. Her funeral, organized by the Kennedy family, was held at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Belford, New Jersey. On May 21, 2012 a memorial service organized by the Richardson family was held at the Standard Hotel in Manhattan. A legal battle between her husband and her brother, Thomas W. Richardson, ensued over which family should have control over her remains.

References

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