Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Senator Robert F. Kennedy who died on Thursday at 96, was known for displaying grace and resilience after her husband’s murder as well as for her engagement with his political ambitions and the Kennedy family’s legacy.

Outspoken and competitive, Mrs. Kennedy leaned into the political fray and continued to lead a public life, developing a lifelong passion for social advocacy that endured until her death.

Sometimes considered “more Kennedy than the Kennedys” because of her consuming passion for politics, she supported her husband during his rise as a Democratic politician while nurturing their expanding family.

Mrs. Kennedy is often remembered for her strength after his assassination in 1968, when she was pregnant with their 11th child. Her husband passed away in the hospital with her by his side.

The senator’s death was just one tragedy in a life that was punctuated by loss, causing her to lean on her Roman Catholic faith. Yet she kept her humanitarianism, signaling on the day after her husband died that she remained committed to service. “We’re placed on the earth and somehow given a sense of responsibility to give life and love and help to others,” she said then.

For the next 56 years, Mrs. Kennedy remained devoted to her husband’s legacy and the causes he championed. She never remarried, telling People magazine in 1991 that she would consider it adultery.

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