I was ask to write an obit for Ted Kennedy. Seriously why should I? He was an American Senator and nothing to do with me but my friend told me because of what he represent and how he lead his life. Well here is what I know of Edward Kennedy the youngest of the Kennedy Brothers. He was born in 1932 (the year my father was born) in February that year. He was the son of Joseph Kennedy Sr who made (some of his) fortune from bootlegging or in short a smuggler. He, Joseph was the grandson of an immigrant who migrated due to the potato famine in Ireland.

Joseph Kennedy was anti Semitic like many of the older generation and most probably a white Anglo Saxon chauvinist. He manage to climb the social ladder and during Roosevelt presidency he bag the coveted role of being an Ambassador to the court of King James i.e. England. He had high hopes for his sons to assume the oval office starting with Joseph Kennedy Jr who try to become the Governor of Massachusetts in 1942. Joseph would later die during one of the sorties in world war two after all he was a pilot.

Why I wrote much of Edward's Father then of him, because to me although Edward has a passion for politics he will never be the hope of his father. In other words he became a politician not through design but to a series of unfortunate event. May be Joseph Kennedy did sell his soul to the devil thus his wealth can't hide the misfortune that sometimes befall his families and there were many.

Edward was like his brothers a very handsome man with a movie star look. And like his brothers woman was a passion they love. His dad has an affair with Gloria Swanson so too would his sons with a bevy of beauties. That is what i remember most about them. Edward was always haunted by the tragedy at Chappaquiddick in 1969. He was just made a Senator and a lot of goodwill was present due to his older brother Robert who was assassinated during the primaries in 1968. A lady die there, Mary Jo Kopechne, and like Clinton who deny any inappropriateness with a woman so too was Ted. An inquest was held and the conclusion was made to believe that Kennedy was not telling the truth and drunk driving might be the reason for the crash. He never recover and singularly because of it, he lost the Presidential Nominee for his party to Carter in 1980 the only one he went into. He would refuse to fight for the primaries again haunted by this tragedy.

He divorce his wife Joan in 1981 due to her alcohol dependency partly the result of the philandering of the husband. Later he married a divorcee Victoria Anne Reggie, in 1992. In later life he became the voice of conscious for the Americans in his senate and regard public service as a duty that he embrace.in December 1985 Kennedy publicly cut short any talk that he might run in the 1988 presidential election. He added: "I know this decision means I may never be president. But the pursuit of the presidency is not my life. Public service is."First elected in November 1962, he was elected nine times and served for 46 years in the U.S. Senate. At the time of his death, he was the second most senior member of the Senate, and the third-longest-serving senator in U.S. history and became known as "The Lion of the Senate".

He was diagnose having an inoperable malignant brain tumour in 2008 and die on August 25th 2009.

Death

Wikinews has related news: Senator Ted Kennedy dies at age 77

Kennedy died of his tumor on Tuesday, August 25, 2009, at his home in Hyannis Port,^[206] two weeks after the death of his sister Eunice. He is survived by his wife Victoria, his sister Jean Kennedy Smith, and his three children and two step-children. In a statement, Kennedy's family thanked "everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice".^[207] President Obama said that Kennedy's death marked the "passing of an extraordinary leader"^[208] and that he and First Lady Michelle Obama were "heartbroken" to learn of Kennedy's death,^[209] while Vice President Biden said "today we lost a truly remarkable man,"^[210] and that Kennedy "changed the circumstances of tens of millions of Americans".^[211] Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts Governor and Kennedy's opponent in the 1994 senate race, called Kennedy "the kind of man you could like even if he was your adversary"^[212] and former First Lady Nancy Reagan said she was "terribly saddened." She went on: "Given our political differences, people are sometimes surprised how close Ronnie [Ronald Reagan] and I have been to the Kennedy family.... I will miss him.^[213][214] Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, the President pro tempore of the Senate, issued a statement on Kennedy's death in which he said "My heart and soul weeps at the loss of my best friend in the Senate, my beloved friend, Ted Kennedy".^[215] Upon his death, his sister Jean Kennedy Smith is the only surviving child of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Kennedy's nine children.

Amen although as a Muslim we are not allowed to pray for him but I wish him well in the after life and hope he be judge as a Man who has done good for his country and his people and God would take him into his bosom for all his fault he lead a good life and he gave it all!

Note: He was buried at Arlington beside both his brother John and Robert on 30th August 2009