Washington - US Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy, the liberal lion hailed as one of the country's most effective lawmakers ever and the first important Democrat to challenge President George W Bush over the Iraq war, died of brain cancer late Tuesday. After seeing two high profile brothers, including a president, assassinated in the 1960s, Kennedy served as a senator since 1962, and is credited with pushing through major milestones in social, civil and voting rights legislation that protected the disenfranchised and advocated for the elderly, disabled, immigrants and workers.
But despite his popularity and high standing, the White House always remained out of reach. Kennedy's reputation as a party reveller and the scandal known as Chappaquiddick always stood between him and the presidency.
The revelation in May 2008 that he had a serious form of brain cancer sent tears and a stunned silence across the US Congress, where his laughter, kidding and consistent interest in the personal welfare of his colleagues once dominated the corridors.
Outside medical experts expressed sobering prospects for recovery from the malignant glioma tumor in the then-76-year-old senator's left parietal lobe.
But many of Kennedy's colleagues were upbeat, believing that the man who fought so hard for legislation would overcome this challenge, too.
"He's a strong guy, with a great heart," said Senator Chris Dodd, a fellow Democrat from Connecticut, a neighbouring state to Kennedy's native Massachusetts.
US President Barack Obama, the country's first president who received a strong, early endorsement from Kennedy, said after learning of his illness in 2008 that he "would not be sitting here as a presidential candidate had it not been for the battles Ted Kennedy has fought."
"I stand on his shoulders," Obama said.
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy, born February 22, 1932, in Brookline, Massachusetts, was the youngest of nine children born to Joseph and Rose Kennedy. The family is recognized as one of the oldest, richest and most influential families in the US.
His death followed shortly after that of his older sister Eunice, who died at age 88 on August 11. The only surviving sibling
