The niece of United States President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the daughter and oldest child of Senator Ted Kennedy and socialite Joan Bennett Kennedy, Kara Kennedy is remembered as both a film and television producer and a philanthropist.
Upon her graduation from Tufts University, she worked for the New York office of Fox News and produced a Boston WBZ-TV program titled Evening Magazine.
She produced films for her aunt Jean Kennedy Smith's Very Special Arts (VSA) charitable organization.
Her marriage to architect Michael Allen lasted from 1990 until her death of a heart attack in 2011 and produced children named Grace and Max. Prior to her sudden death, she had survived a battle with lung cancer.
Two weeks before the death of her father, she accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom on his behalf from President Barack Obama .