Michael Kennedy Dies in Aspen Skiing Accident

Michael Kennedy, the 39-year-old son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, died Wednesday in a skiing accident.

The Aspen Ski Co., which runs the resort where Kennedy died, released a statement saying he collided with a tree about 4:15 p.m.

Kennedy was the second of 11 children born to the former Sen. Kennedy and his wife, Ethel, to die under tragic circumstances. His brother David died in Florida in 1984 of a drug overdose.

“Ethel Kennedy and her family are mourning the loss of their beloved son Michael, who was fatally injured while skiing with his family in Aspen,” read the statement from the Aspen Ski Co.

Once viewed as the next star in the Kennedy family, Michael suffered a fall from grace last spring when it was revealed that he had an affair with his family’s baby-sitter.

The sensation created by that report had an impact on the withdrawal of his older brother, Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, from the 1998 gubernatorial race in Massachusetts.

Allegations that the baby-sitter was 14 at the time the affair began prompted Norfolk County Dist. Atty. Jeffrey Locke to investigate Kennedy. Sex with a minor constitutes statutory rape in Massachusetts.

Locke ultimately dropped the investigation after the woman and her family refused to press charges. Since then, Kennedy remained largely out of sight.

He made news earlier in the year when he and his wife, Victoria, daughter of ABC sportscaster Frank Gifford, revealed that they were separating. But recent reports indicated that the couple had reconciled. They had three children.