Kennedys Again Face a Senseless Death in Loss of Michael

Once again they converged on the big clapboard house in Hyannisport, a family struck anew by senseless tragedy. Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins: Throughout the day and night on Thursday, the Kennedy family streamed into the compound that hugs the Atlantic Ocean to mourn their latest casualty, 39-year-old Michael Kennedy, the son who bore the most striking--sometimes eerie--resemblance to his late father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

His death in Aspen, Colo., in a New Year’s Eve skiing accident, rocked a political dynasty known equally for anguish and accomplishment. Michael Kennedy was the brother of a congressman, the son of a senator and the nephew of a president. He co-founded a group called Stop Handgun Violence, an organization that posted billboards along the Massachusetts Turnpike that featured pictures of murdered children. He co-founded a nonprofit company that provided heating oil to low-income people.

But Michael Kennedy was also the focus of a lurid scandal this summer when he admitted that he conducted a prolonged affair with his children’s teenage baby-sitter. The disclosures ultimately prompted his brother, Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, to withdraw from the Massachusetts gubernatorial race. The newest embarrassments also added to a growing sense in Kennedy country that this generation lives too fast and too hard, and that the magic of Camelot may be wearing thin.

“It’s sad; it’s an awful thing,” said Joe Donnelly, who was working at a convenience store here Thursday. “But it’s no surprise. They think they can get away with anything.”

Supporters of the family were more delicate. “Maybe it’s the price you pay for great glory: You also have great sadness,” said political consultant Michael Goldman.

On a sunny Thursday in Aspen, the Rocky Mountain aerie of the rich and famous, Michael Kennedy’s fatal accident overshadowed much of the traditional New Year’s revelry. A somber mood quickly overtook the chic alpine resort where the Kennedy clan has vacationed since 1962.

“Everybody’s talking about it around here,” said Tom Root, a 53-year-old ski patrolman from Anaheim Hills who lives in Aspen in winter. “People here are used to having celebrities around, but not getting killed.”

Peering down from a gondola gliding over the snowy pass where Kennedy was killed, he shook his head and muttered, “I just don’t understand how it happened, though--it’s got to be the freakiest thing ever.”

A coroner’s report issued Thursday concluded that Kennedy died of massive injuries to the head and neck after smashing into a pine tree. Dr. Robert Kurtzman, a forensic pathologist, said initial toxicology tests showed there was no alcohol or drugs in Kennedy’s body.

On his last run of the day, Kennedy was skiing with several relatives down a portion of Copper Trail run intersected by narrow steep slopes and framed by glades when he hit the tree.

A witness reportedly said the Kennedys had been playing some sort of football with a water bottle packed with ice. She said Kennedy had been recording the game on video when he went out for a pass, caught the ball and slammed head first into the tree.

Witnesses next watched in horror as nearly a dozen family members gathered around their unconscious relative, some screaming, “Get some help up here! Call an ambulance!”

Kennedy’s three children were behind him when it happened. Some family members pulled the youngsters away or covered their eyes to prevent them from seeing blood scattered across the snow. Several of the Kennedys fell to their knees saying the Lord’s Prayer, and Michael’s youngest sister, Rory, attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Within four minutes, an Aspen Mountain ski patrol arrived and provided extensive cardiac treatment, spinal immobilization and respiratory support before transporting him down the 11,212-foot mountain.

Kennedy was pronounced dead at 5:50 p.m. at Aspen Valley Hospital with his mother, Ethel, at his bedside. A local priest was seen entering the emergency room at 6:20 p.m., carrying the purple stole commonly used when last rites are administered.

The freakish nature of Thursday’s accident only added to a fast-living image that is both coveted and cursed by many of Michael Kennedy’s numerous siblings and cousins. Challenging the mountain with the toss-the-bottle game, a family favorite, added a devil-may-care quality to the group ski outing. It also tempted fate, said Aspen builder Phil Bradford, 48.

“People die on that mountain all the time, often because they are plain reckless,” Bradford said.

“Skiing near or through trees, especially when light is flat and the snow icy, is a reckless thing to do.”

A former resort employee who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Kennedys had been warned in the past by the ski patrol that such games and skiing are a dangerous mix.

“They used to play football on the slopes. They’ve done it in the past. It’s a family tradition,” he said.

Michael Kennedy was just 5 years old when his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas in November 1963. Five years later, he attended the funeral of his father, who was gunned down in Los Angeles while pursuing his own bid to occupy the White House.

Having successfully managed several of his brother Joseph’s congressional campaigns, Michael Kennedy had often been viewed as the next likely family member to seek elective office. He was a graduate of Harvard University who earned a law degree from the University of Virginia. In Cohasset, the affluent seaside community south of Boston where he settled with his wife, Victoria, and their three children, he was a popular figure.

But the disclosure of his affair with the family’s baby sitter, now a communications student at Boston University, brought a rapid end to such speculation.

For weeks, the story grew more and more sensational. Kennedy found himself confessing that he had not attended the funeral of his grandmother Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy because he was at a rehab center undergoing treatment for alcohol abuse. Later he confirmed that he had been treated for sexual addiction. Family members and friends were said to have joined Kennedy and the baby sitter on a rafting trip in Maine that ended with a vodka-infused sauna bath.

His wife, daughter of sportscaster Frank Gifford, was said to have discovered her husband and the baby sitter in bed in the family home.

Meanwhile, the Norfolk County district attorney aggressively attempted to charge Kennedy with statutory rape. But the baby-sitter, who allegedly was 14 when the affair began, refused to cooperate. “Reluctantly,” the district attorney said at the time, the investigation was ended.

But for Michael’s older brother Joe, the damage was done. Earlier in the year, the congressman from Brighton had weathered negative publicity when his former wife asserted that he had pressured her to have their 12-year marriage annulled. In her book, “Shattered Faith,” Sheila Rauch Kennedy added to the unflattering portrayal of her ex-husband by describing him as a hot-tempered bully.

Although no Kennedy had ever laid claim to the Massachusetts Statehouse, political observers here assumed the congressman would glide into the governorship. There was even talk that the 44-year-old Kennedy might use the state’s highest office as a springboard for a presidential campaign.

On Thursday, some insiders here wondered if sympathy for Rep. Kennedy might help him jump-start the race he abandoned in the wake of his brother’s sex scandal. But others noted that any attention on his brother’s death would lead to discussion of his brother’s life and that voters might recoil at the appearance of exploiting a tragedy.

Two other brothers, Robert Jr. and Maxwell, were with Michael Kennedy when he crashed into the tree.

In recent weeks, Kennedy appeared to have been trying to repair his tattered playboy reputation and to restore some stability to his family. He and his wife had been living apart, but lately they had been spotted dining together.

Early Thursday, authorities in Aspen released Kennedy’s body to his family. It was immediately flown to the small regional airport of Barnstable on Cape Cod. A wake will be held today at the family compound, with numerous dignitaries expected to attend.

Burial will be Saturday at Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, where his grandparents, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Kennedy, are buried. Michael Kennedy’s brother David, who died at age 28 of a heroin overdose in Palm Beach, Fla., is also buried in the Kennedy plot.

Mehren reported from Boston and Sahagun from Aspen.