Sister of JFK, Robert Kennedy, and Ted Kennedy, Shriver had graduated from Stanford with a degree in sociology, then worked with prisoners of war and at a women's prison, before starting a summer day camp for disabled children in her backyard. The camp was inspired by a friend, she once recalled, who couldn't find summer activities for her intellectually disabled child. She told NPR,

I said: ‘You don't have to talk about it anymore. You come here a month from today. I'll start my own camp. No charge to go into the camp, but you have to get your kid here, and you have to come and pick your kid up.'

The camp grew to become the Special Olympics, which had its first international competition in Chicago in 1968. The Special Olympics were inspired in part by Shriver's sister Rosemary, who was institutionalized after a failed lobotomy, and whose intellectual disabilities Shriver disclosed to the world in a 1962 article in The Saturday Evening Post. The Special Olympics provided one of the first venues for intellectually disabled children to excel athletically — many of them had been previously excluded from all sports, leading to high rates of obesity. In a statement today, President Obama said that Shriver "will be remembered [...] as a champion for people with intellectual disabilities, and as an extraordinary woman who, as much as anyone, taught our nation – and our world – that no physical or mental barrier can restrain the power of the human spirit."

One of the most striking things about Shriver is that she combined having a family with fulfilling work at a time when this was not particularly easy. She and her loved ones describe these two parts of her life as equally important. Shriver said,

Most people believe I spent my whole life really interested in only one thing and that one thing is working to make the world a better place for people with intellectual disabilities. As important as it has been, it is not the whole story of my life. My life is about being lucky as a child to be raised by parents who loved me and made me believe in possibilities. It is also about being lucky to have had these extraordinary children

Her daughter, Maria Shriver, wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger, recalled in 2004,

She was certainly a feminist before that was cool or out there, and yet she always combined it with talking about motherhood. She raised me to believe you are as good as the boys, as tough and as competitive as the boys, and you need to do something to help the world.

Shriver's father Joseph Kennedy once said of her, "If that girl had been born with balls, she would have been a hell of a politician." Her accomplishments were such that the U.S. News & World Report wrote in 1993 that, "When the full judgment of the Kennedy legacy is made [...] the changes wrought by Eunice Shriver may well be seen as the most consequential." We can only imagine what she would have done had she been born in a time when feminism was cool. That time may not be here yet — but perhaps Shriver's example will hasten it.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver Dies At 88 [Wall Street Journal]
Eunice Kennedy Shriver Dies [CNN]
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Founder Of Special Olympics, Dies At 88 [New York Times]
Obama Statement On Passing Of Eunice Kennedy Shriver [The Page]

• UK's News Of The World is reporting that Britney Spears is adopting Chinese twins. The paper isn't the type to have stories about the Loch Ness Monster dating Big Foot, but we still can't trust this "report." Seriously. [TMZ]
  
• Amy Winehouse was seen pulling something from her bra (not her beehive) and snorting it at a concert in London on Thursday. Think it was nasal spray? [Gatecrasher]
  
• But Amy may check into rehab in the new year, friends say. The trick isn't checking in, the trick is staying. [Daily Mail]
  
• Oprah Winfrey is the subject of an exposé. A man claims to have tapes in which an office manager speaks about Oprah's private life and business practices and reveal "what they don't want the public to know about [Oprah]." And yet he can't find a publisher for this project, hmm. [Page Six]

• Meanwhile, Oprah made a "secret trip" to South Africa Sunday and met with the student who claims to have been abused by a dorm matron and her parents. "Oprah looked beautiful and was so easy to talk to. It went very smoothly," the girl's father says. [People]
• At the 20-year celebration of The Princess Bride, actress Robin Wright Penn "looked phenomenal" while former costar Cary Elwes was unrecognizable. Maybe he should have walked around saying, "As you wish!" [Page Six]
• Rocker Pete Wentz has sent a cease-and-desist request to metal band Neurosonic over their new song that mocks Wentz's girlfriend, Ashlee Simpson. The band will probably respond by laughing and playing the song again. [Page Six]
• Blind item! "Which supposedly sober country queen seems to have tumbled off the wagon? The much-liked Southern singer had to be helped from the stage to her dressing room after a recent live appearance." [Gatecrasher, last item]
• When Tara Reid was a guest-star on Scrubs, she allegedly stank of booze and smokes. Blech. [Rush & Molloy]
• Director Todd Haynes on actress Charlotte Gainsbourg: "When she came on the set, I never wanted to be straight more in my life." [Rush & Molloy]
• Hulk Hogan's wife, Linda, has filed for divorce. The news was broken to the wrestling and reality star by a reporter from the St. Petersburg Times. [People]
• Us magazine asked Loveline host Dr. Drew Pinsky about Britney, and he says the fallen star is "a drug addict. We know that she is a drug addict because she's been admitted to a treatment center. You can't be admitted unless you've met criteria for addiction." He also says "It is hard to get through the sycophants who are enabling her and be able to find people around Britney who are willing to potentially sacrifice either their salary or their access to her by bringing her into treatment." [MSNBC]
• There's still some drama over the fact that Zahara Jolie-Pitt's biological grandmother told the adoption agency that Z's mother had died — and had witnesses sign paperwork affirming her statement — when in fact, the mother is alive and giving interviews to different news outlets. [Daily Mail]
• Does singer Kylie Minogue push herself during her shows to the point of collapse? [Daily Mail]
• Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of the late President John F. Kennedy and mother of Maria Shriver, has been hospitalized. [ET]