Joseph P. Kennedy II

Joseph Patrick Kennedy II, better known as Joe, (born September 24, 1952) is an American businessman, Democratic politician, and a member of the Kennedy family. He is a son of former United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy, and he is also a nephew of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy and former U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from the 8th congressional district of Massachusetts from 1987 to 1999. In 1979 he founded and, until he was elected to the U.S. House, led Citizens Energy Corporation, a non-profit energy company which provides heating oil to low-income and elderly families in Massachusetts. Early life, family and education Kennedy was born on September 24, 1952, in St. Elizabeth's Hospital in the Brighton section of Boston, Massachusetts, the second of 11 children of Ethel (Skakel) and Robert Francis Kennedy. He was named after his grandfather Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., the patriarch of the Kennedy family. He had a troubled youth and was expelled from several private schools as a result of his quick temper. He regularly got into fights with his younger brothers and male cousins. He was 15 when his father was assassinated. A restless, impulsive teenager, he left Milton Academy, a private, college preparatory school, in Milton, Massachusetts, later graduating from the Manter Hall School—also a private, college-preparatory school—in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1971. During his time at Milton, he was roommates with Thomas C. Wales.