The Board of Directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation mourned the loss of their esteemed colleague Patricia Kennedy Lawford who died on September 17, 2006.
Mrs. Lawford was a loyal and devoted friend to the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and to the Kennedy Library Foundation. As an active member of the Board of Directors, she worked tirelessly to support the work and programs of the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum which she was so very instrumental in building.
After the Kennedy Library Corporation selected the current waterfront site for the Kennedy Presidential Library in 1975, it was Patricia Kennedy Lawford who became overall Museum coordinator, working on a day-to-day basis with the architects, designers and Library staff.
Noting that most of the visitors to the Library after the first few years would not have any memories of President Kennedy, Mrs. Lawford articulated what she saw as the goal of her brother’s Museum:
People should leave the Library feeling that this was someone they would have liked to know, feeling sorry that they missed those years, and feeling that somewhere, somehow, the country will fulfill the promise that he strove for, and that they will try to help the country achieve that promise.
Mrs. Lawford succeeded admirably in her mission.
“Mrs. Lawford was as gracious to staff as she was to visiting heads of state and she endeared herself to everyone with whom she worked,” said Paul G. Kirk, Jr., Chairman of the Foundation’s Board of Directors. “Her energy was indefatigable and her laughter was infectious. Whether she was personally overseeing the refurbishing of the Kennedy Library’s formal reception room, representing the Kennedy family at public events and ceremonies, or closely following the Foundation Board’s proceedings, Patricia Kennedy Lawford embraced the mission of making the Kennedy Library a living and vibrant memorial to her brothers John and Robert. We will miss her courage, her wit, her smile and her guidance.”