Joan Bennett Kennedy, first wife of late Sen. Ted Kennedy, dies at 89

Joan Bennett Kennedy, the first wife of the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward “Ted” Kennedy, has died. She was 89.

Kennedy died in her sleep at her Boston home on Oct. 8, according to a family statement provided to the Cape Cod Times, part of the USA Today Network.

“Besides being a loving mother, talented musician, and instrumental partner to my father as he launched his successful political career, Mom was a powerful example to millions of people with mental health conditions. She will be missed not just by the entire Kennedy Family, but by the arts community in the City of Boston and the many people whose lives that she touched,” her son, Patrick Kennedy, said in the statement.

Through her more than 20-year marriage to Sen. Ted Kennedy, she was a member of his prominent Massachusetts-based political family. Her ex-husband was the brother of President John F. Kennedy and former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

Kennedy, a classical pianist, music teacher and advocate for mental health and addiction services, was married to the former senator from 1958 to 1982.

They had three children together: the late television producer Kara Kennedy, former Rhode Island U.S. Rep. Patrick Joseph Kennedy and former Connecticut state Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.