Kara Anne Kennedy Allen was the oldest child and only daughter of Senator Edward M.(Ted)and Joan Bennett Kennedy. She graduated from the National Cathedral School in Washington, DC. She worked on her father's 1980 Presidential campaign. She graduated from Tufts University in 1983 with a degree in television. She worked for Fox News in New York and was also a producer for the television program Evening Magazine at WBZ-TV in Boston, MA. She and her brother, Ted, Jr., co-managed their father's successful 1988 re-election campaign. She produced films for VSA arts, formerly known as Very Special Arts, an organization founded by her aunt, Jean Kennedy Smith, to encourage participation in the arts by persons with disabilities. One of her best known projects was a film she produced on Chris Burke, the actor with Down's Syndrome who starred in the television series "Life Goes On." She said the film project had as much positive impact on her as it did on the viewing audience. Kara was also on the board for the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. She served as a director emerita and a national trustee of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides financial support, staffing and creative resources for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, in Boston, MA. In September 1990 she married Michael Allen, an architect and real estate developer from Rhode Island. They had two children, Grace Kennedy Allen, born September 19, 1994, and Max Greathouse Allen, born December 20, 1996. Kara and Michael recently divorced. In December 2002 she learned she had lung cancer and that it was inoperable. She found, with her father's help, a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston willing to remove part of her right lung. The operation was successful and she underwent a long period of chemo. In 1973 her brother, Ted, Jr., was diagnosed with bone cancer. His right leg was removed just above the knee. In 1988, her brother, Patrick, had a benign tumor removed from his spine. In 2009, her father died of brain cancer. When he announced her death, Patrick, a former Congressman from Rhode Island, suggested that the aggressive treatments she received for the cancer had weakened her heart. She was devout in her health regimes and died after finishing her daily workout at the Sport and Health Club in Northwest Washington, DC. In his statement, Patrick said, "Her heart gave out."
Kara Anne Kennedy Allen was the oldest child and only daughter of Senator Edward M.(Ted)and Joan Bennett Kennedy. She graduated from the National Cathedral School in Washington, DC. She worked on her father's 1980 Presidential campaign. She graduated from Tufts University in 1983 with a degree in television. She worked for Fox News in New York and was also a producer for the television program Evening Magazine at WBZ-TV in Boston, MA. She and her brother, Ted, Jr., co-managed their father's successful 1988 re-election campaign. She produced films for VSA arts, formerly known as Very Special Arts, an organization founded by her aunt, Jean Kennedy Smith, to encourage participation in the arts by persons with disabilities. One of her best known projects was a film she produced on Chris Burke, the actor with Down's Syndrome who starred in the television series "Life Goes On." She said the film project had as much positive impact on her as it did on the viewing audience. Kara was also on the board for the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. She served as a director emerita and a national trustee of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides financial support, staffing and creative resources for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, in Boston, MA. In September 1990 she married Michael Allen, an architect and real estate developer from Rhode Island. They had two children, Grace Kennedy Allen, born September 19, 1994, and Max Greathouse Allen, born December 20, 1996. Kara and Michael recently divorced. In December 2002 she learned she had lung cancer and that it was inoperable. She found, with her father's help, a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston willing to remove part of her right lung. The operation was successful and she underwent a long period of chemo. In 1973 her brother, Ted, Jr., was diagnosed with bone cancer. His right leg was removed just above the knee. In 1988, her brother, Patrick, had a benign tumor removed from his spine. In 2009, her father died of brain cancer. When he announced her death, Patrick, a former Congressman from Rhode Island, suggested that the aggressive treatments she received for the cancer had weakened her heart. She was devout in her health regimes and died after finishing her daily workout at the Sport and Health Club in Northwest Washington, DC. In his statement, Patrick said, "Her heart gave out."
Bio by: Janet Rush
