RFK Jr.’s Estranged Wife Found Dead

Posted on May 17, 2012

AP/Peter Kramer

Mary Richardson Kennedy with husband Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a film premiere in 2009.

Mary Richardson Kennedy, the estranged wife of prominent environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., became the Kennedy clan’s latest tragedy when she was found dead Wednesday in a barn behind their home in Bedford, N.Y. A medical examiner confirmed that the 52-year-old died from asphyxiation by hanging.

The couple had four children together before separating in 2010. Shortly afterward, she was arrested on charges of drunk driving.

The Kennedy family released a statement praising her as a “genius at friendship, a tremendously gifted architect and a pioneer and relentless advocate of green design.” —ARK

The New York Times:

A person with knowledge of the matter said that Ms. Kennedy’s body had been discovered hanging in a barn behind the house and that she had left a note.

... Although news outlets have reported that Mary Kennedy and her husband had become estranged and that he filed for divorce in 2010, her lawyer, Kerry A. Lawrence, said on Wednesday that they were not divorced. In 2010, Ms. Kennedy was arrested twice — once on a charge of driving while intoxicated, and later on a charge of driving under the influence of prescription medication.

The first charge was reduced to a violation, Mr. Lawrence said; Ms. Kennedy was ordered to undergo alcohol treatment and her license was suspended for 90 days. The prescription drug charges were dismissed, Mr. Lawrence said.

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