Kara Kennedy (1960-2011)

When NOFAS founder Patti Munter moved the organization to Washington D.C. in 1991 the first thing she did was ask her college roommate and friend, Kara Kennedy, for advice. Kennedy provided something more: she called on Washingtonians committed to public service to serve on the board, rallied policymakers to take up the fight against Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and, she raised money. Her work helped firmly establish NOFAS, still the only national organization addressing the nation’s leading preventable cause of intellectual disabilities.

She also was firm about something else that came from her core: though NOFAS was founded as a prevention organization, Kennedy repeated often that its success would be defined by how well it supports and provides for the children and adults living with FAS. Her counsel for the organization to do all it can on behalf of individuals with FAS—and then a little bit more—will always be a NOFAS hallmark.

As Munter’s key advisor and mentor, Kara Kennedy put her television production background to use by helping to develop public service announcements for NOFAS featuring celebrities Bonnie Raitt, Queen Latifah, and Jimmy Smits. She took the lead to put together a benefit concert starring Carole King at her father’s home, and enlisted her cousin, Dr. William Kennedy Smith, to start the very first FAS medical school curriculum. The project needed funding so she solicited the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation to provide a grant. She convinced another cousin, Rory Kennedy, to produce a video a depicting the challenges faced by women with alcohol dependence. So much of what NOFAS has accomplished is linked directly to Kennedy.

As much as she did for the cause what defines Kara Kennedy is her abiding compassion, selfless values, utter sincerity, and above all her constant devotion to her family and friends. This is who she was and what mattered to her. Several years ago, NOFAS told Kennedy the organization wanted to honor her at its annual benefit event. She quietly suggested that instead NOFAS recognize a young woman she knew who was living with FAS and succeeding, in part, through support from NOFAS. Another important board leader introduced to NOFAS by Kennedy, Terry Lierman, says it best, “She was always there, but she was there for the cause and not for her own visibility.”

On behalf of Chairman Kate Boyce, Founder Patti Munter, the Board of Directors and Advisory Board, the staff, its thirty affiliate organizations, and the children and adults touched by FAS, NOFAS expresses its deepest gratitude for Kara Kennedy and offers condolences to her family. Although she wouldn’t hear of such praise, Kara Kennedy will always be a treasure and a hero to us all.