Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.

AKA:

Joe

Birth Name:

Joseph Patrick Kennedy

Birth Date:

September 6, 1888 –

Birth Place:

Boston, Massachusetts

Death Date:

November 18, 1969

Place of Death:

50 Marchant Avenue, Hyannis Port, Massachusetts

Age:

Cause of Death:

Series of stokes and heart attacks

Cemetery Name:

Holyhood Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Business and Finance

Associates:

Joseph P. Kennedy is best known for being the father of three political leaders: President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, who served as a U.S. senator and attorney general. Kennedy became a bank president by age 25, also holding positions as a shipyard manager and movie studio owner. By age 30, he was a millionaire. In 1937, Kennedy became the first Irish-American ambassador to Britain, serving in that position until 1940. A prominent American businessman, investor and politician, Kennedy is known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was the patriarch of the Irish-American Kennedy family.

Fun Facts

John F. Kennedy later gained notoriety for his womanizing, but his father was every bit as promiscuous. Despite marrying Rose Fitzgerald in 1914, Joseph couldn’t help cavorting with other women. Kennedy’s affair with Gloria Swanson was one of the most famous examples of stepping outside his marriage. Another example of Joseph’s womanizing came with his decade-long affair with his secretary, Janet Des Rosiers. He was around 60 at the time, and she was just 24 years old (ewww) at the beginning of the affair.

John and his father also both bedded Marlene Dietrich.

Where did the Kennedy fortune come from? In 1919, Kennedy joined Hayden, Stone & Co., a prominent stock brokerage firm with offices in Boston and New York, where he became an expert dealing in the unregulated stock market of the day, engaging in tactics that were later considered to be insider trading and market manipulation violations. In 1923, he established his own investment company and Kennedy subsequently became a multi-millionaire as a result of taking “short” (selling a stock before you own it only to buy back when the price drops) positions following the 1929 stock market crash. During the Great Depression, Kennedy shrewdly increased his wealth by devoting most of it into investment-grade real estate. In 1929, Kennedy’s fortune was estimated to be $4 million (equivalent to $68.2 million in 2022). By 1935, his wealth had increased to $180 million (equivalent to $3.84 billion in 2022).

Oh, and for the 100th time – there is absolutely no evidence that Joseph was a bootlegger.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Holyhood Cemetery

584 Heath Street

Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, 02467

USA

North America

Map:

Map of Holyhood Cemetery in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

Grave Location:

Cushing Knoll, Kennedy Family Plot

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery take the first right and then an immediate left and follow this road around to the right (it eventually turns into Gethsemane Avenue). At the intersection of Gethsemane Avenue and O’Connell Avenue look to your right for the large granite Kennedy monument. The individual graves are directly in front of the monument with Joe and Rose holding court over their relatives.