Heartbreak for the Kennedy Family: Tatiana Schlossberg, JFK’s Granddaughter, Dies at 35 After Brave Battle with Leukemia

By Grok News Desk January 8, 2026

Tatiana Celia Kennedy Schlossberg, the accomplished environmental journalist, author, and granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy, passed away on December 30, 2025, at the age of 35. She succumbed to acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a rare and aggressive blood cancer, just weeks after publicly sharing her terminal diagnosis in a poignant essay for The New Yorker.

people.com

Tatiana Schlossberg Smiles in Family Photo Taken Before Her Death …

Caption: Tatiana Schlossberg smiles in a family photo taken on Martha’s Vineyard just three months before her passing, surrounded by loved ones.

The news has sent shockwaves through the nation, reviving memories of the so-called “Kennedy curse” that has claimed so many young lives in America’s most famous political dynasty. Tatiana, the middle child of Caroline Kennedy — JFK’s only surviving child and former U.S. Ambassador to Australia and Japan — and designer Edwin Schlossberg, leaves behind her devastated husband, Dr. George Moran, and their two young children: son Edwin, 3, and daughter Josephine, 1.

In a statement released through the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, the family wrote: “Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts.” The post was accompanied by a recent family photo showing Tatiana beaming alongside George and their children in a sunlit field on Martha’s Vineyard, the historic Kennedy compound where many family milestones have unfolded.

hellomagazine.com

Tatiana Schlossberg poses with her 2 kids in never-before-seen …

Caption: A never-before-seen family portrait of Tatiana Schlossberg with husband George Moran and their two children, Edwin and Josephine, captured in happier times.

Tatiana’s death comes as a cruel blow to a family already familiar with tragedy. Born on May 5, 1990, in New York City, she grew up under intense public scrutiny but chose a path of intellectual pursuit and environmental advocacy. A Yale University graduate with a master’s in American history from Oxford, Tatiana worked as a reporter for The New York Times, covering climate change with sharp insight and urgency. Her 2019 book, Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don’t Know You Have, explored the hidden ecological costs of everyday life, earning praise for its accessible yet rigorous approach.

Friends and colleagues remember her as brilliant, witty, and passionately committed to the planet. “Tatiana had a rare gift for making complex environmental issues relatable and urgent,” said one former Times editor. “She lived her values every day.”

But it was her personal courage in the face of illness that touched millions in her final months. In November 2025, Tatiana published “A Battle with My Blood” in The New Yorker, a raw and unflinching account of her diagnosis. She revealed that symptoms emerged shortly after the birth of her daughter Josephine in 2024. What began as fatigue escalated into a devastating AML diagnosis — an aggressive leukemia with poor prognosis in adults.

Despite grueling treatments, including chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, and experimental CAR-T cell therapy, the cancer progressed relentlessly. Doctors informed her she had less than a year left.

nytimes.com

Tatiana Schlossberg, George Moran – The New York Times

Caption: Tatiana Schlossberg and George Moran on their wedding day in 2017, at the Kennedy family estate on Martha’s Vineyard.

At the heart of her essay was her profound love for her husband, George Moran, a physician she met at Yale and married in a private ceremony on Martha’s Vineyard in September 2017. Tatiana wrote movingly of George as the man who “never left her side,” supporting her through hospitalizations, childcare, and the emotional toll of her illness. “My husband, George, and I held her and stared at her,” she recalled of welcoming their daughter amid uncertainty.

Now, George, a dedicated doctor, faces the unimaginable: raising Edwin and Josephine alone while grappling with profound grief. Sources close to the family describe him as “shattered but resolute,” determined to honor Tatiana’s memory by instilling in their children her values of curiosity, kindness, and environmental stewardship.

abcnews.go.com

Tatiana Schlossberg, granddaughter of JFK, has died – ABC News

Caption: Tatiana Schlossberg with her mother, Caroline Kennedy, in a cherished family moment.

A private funeral was held on January 5, 2026, at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York City — the same venue where Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s funeral took place in 1994. Caroline Kennedy was seen cradling her granddaughter Josephine, while George held young Edwin. Siblings Rose and Jack Schlossberg, along with extended Kennedy relatives including Timothy Shriver, attended the somber service.

Shriver later shared that George asked mourners to remember Tatiana not with sorrow, but by embracing life fully — reading widely, protecting the environment, and cherishing family. “That’s how he wants her legacy to live on,” Shriver said.

The Kennedy family has endured repeated heartbreak: JFK’s assassination in 1963, Robert F. Kennedy’s in 1968, the 1999 plane crash that killed John F. Kennedy Jr., and more. Tatiana’s passing at such a young age, leaving two babies motherless, adds another painful chapter.

Yet her words endure as a testament to resilience and love. In her essay, she reflected on watching controversial relative Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — now Health Secretary — while battling a disease tied to environmental factors. But mostly, she focused on gratitude for her brief, beautiful life.

As the nation mourns, Tatiana Schlossberg’s voice reminds us of fragility and the urgent need to care for our world — and each other.

fortune.com

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Caption: Members of the Kennedy family gathered in recent years, a dynasty marked by triumph and tragedy.