Having beaten his doctors’ previous prognosis and living to help usher in a new American administration, Sen. Ted Kennedy succumbed to brain cancer late Tuesday night at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass., at age 77. –KA

Like Sisyphus at the top of the hill, Kennedy died a king heartrendingly within view of his lifelong goal: health care for all. The squabbling over options and political maneuvering is all the more crass in this light. Kennedy had the purity of vision, the political genius and the heroic love of the downtrodden necessary to pass, at last, his magnum opus. He just didn’t have the body. –PS

ABC News:

The man known as the “liberal lion of the Senate” had fought a more than year-long battle with brain cancer, and according to his son had lived longer with the disease than his doctors expected him to.

“We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever,” the Kennedy family said in a statement. “He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it.”

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#brain cancer#health care#obituary#robert f. kennedy#senate#ted kennedy