Sen. Ted Kennedy dead at 77

by S. C.

Sen. Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy, a liberal icon and frequent Republican target who was one of the longest-serving and most accomplished lawmakers of the modern era, has died at age 77.

In succumbing to brain cancer at his family's home in Hyannis Port, Mass., Mr. Kennedy became the only one of four dynamic Kennedy brothers to die of natural causes, or even live long enough to see his hair turn white.

The longtime Massachusetts senator was considered one of the most effective legislators of the past few decades. Kennedy, who became known as the "Lion of the Senate," played major roles in passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act, and was an outspoken liberal standard-bearer during a conservative-dominated era from the 1980s to the early 2000s.