Kennedy School Mourns Death of Adviser

Flags flew at half-mast outside the John F. Kennedy School of Government this week, as the school mourned the loss of another Kennedy.

John F. Kennedy, Jr., who died in a plane crash earlier this week, has served on the Institute of Politics' Senior Advisory Committee (SAC) for 15 years. He was also expected to be chair of the committee next fall, according to the committee's current chair, former Senator John C. Culver.

IOP Staff Assistant Bethany L. Wilson said the decision about how to find a new committee chair will be up to the committee.

Kennedy was a regular on IOP panels, including a 1997 panel on Medicare which also featured Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56 (D-Mass).

He was also a faithful attendee at the school's Kennedy-related events.

"We do a celebration for President Kennedy's birthday every year and he would come," Wilson said.

And a tribute to the younger Kennedy may be in the works as well, since the student advisory committee e-mail list has filled with discussion of a possible memorial event.

"We are definitely going to do something in the fall but as to specifics we don't know," said Student Activities Chair Byron J. MacLain '00.

In statements yesterday, Kennedy School officials also praised the Kennedy's work for the school and for his family.

"He has taken a very positive and substantive role in the life of this institution," said IOP Director Alan K. Simpson. "He was not enamored in recreating the past but rather in taking what was great and lasting from the Kennedy legacy and turning it to the future."

"He was continually searching for creative ways to see young people become more involved in our democracy and public life at all levels," Simpson added.

Simpson and Kennedy School Dean Joseph Nye both offered well-wishes to the families of the deceased.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Kennedy and Bessette families at this time," said Nye, who called Kennedy "a strong and committed supporter of the Kennedy School and its mission of public service."

In the past, Kennedy has devoted time to the IOP while his sister, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, focused her efforts on other Kennedy memorial institutions like Boston's Kennedy Library and Museum. IOP staff members said they were not sure whether Schlossberg would play a greater role in the institution's life now that her brother is gone.

Although John F. Kennedy Jr. remained in contact with Harvard through the Kennedy School and other family ties, he bucked family tradition in other ways.

He made his home in New York, rather than Boston, and attended Brown University rather than Harvard, which was alma mater to both his father, President John F. Kennedy and his uncle, Edward M. Kennedy.