— Hyannis Port, MASS.
Robert F. Kennedy's granddaughter, Saoirse Kennedy Hill, has died at 22.
The Kennedy family released a statement on Thursday night, following reports of a death at the family's compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. The statement was issued by Brian Wright O'Connor, a spokesman for former congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II.
Hill was the daughter of Robert and Ethel Kennedy's fifth child, Courtney, and Paul Michael Hill, who was one of four falsely convicted in the 1974 Irish Republican Army bombings of two pubs.
The statement says Saoirse Hill was passionate about human rights and women's empowerment and that she worked with indigenous communities to build schools in Mexico.
The statement quoted her 91-year-old grandmother, Ethel Kennedy, as saying
"the world is a little less beautiful today."
Further details weren't released.
Read the full statement below:
Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse. Her life was filled with hope, promise and love. She cared deeply about friends and family, especially her mother Courtney, her father Paul, her stepmother Stephanie, and her grandmother Ethel, who said, "The world is a little less beautiful today." She lit up our lives with her love, her peals of laughter and her generous spirit. Saoirse was passionately moved by the causes of human rights and women's empowerment and found great joy in volunteer work, working alongside indigenous communities to build schools in Mexico. We will love her and miss her forever.