Joseph John Kennedy

Joseph John Kennedy, 62, passed away at his home in Queens, New York, on October 31, 2025. He was the youngest son of George T. Kennedy and Barbara A. Entwistle.
Joe was born in Columbus, Ohio, and grew up in Indialantic and Satellite Beach, Florida. He attended Melbourne Central Catholic and Satellite High Schools before graduating from St. Joseph High School in South Bend, Indiana. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1986 and later earned a master's degree in Epidemiological Science from Hunter College in New York City, attending classes at night while working full time.
After graduating from Notre Dame, Joe moved with his older brother Michael to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he began his professional career-first with ABT Associates, a global business consulting firm, and later with Quintiles, a multinational Fortune 500 biopharmaceutical company. Over the next decade, his work as a SAS programmer and systems administrator took him to Quintiles offices in Reading, England; Frankfurt, Germany; and Paris, France. He enjoyed hosting family and friends throughout his years in Europe, fostering memories to cherish of late-night meals and early afternoons spent in cafés and art museums.
In 2000, Joe returned to the United States and settled in Manhattan, where he began a long and meaningful career with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. He served as Director of the Matching Unit in the Bureau of Vital Statistics, Center for Population Health Data Science. During more than twenty years of service, he co-authored fourteen papers on health outcomes published in leading journals, including the American Journal of Public Health.
In the summer of 2004, Joe and his oldest brother George loaded a U-Haul and moved his belongings from his small apartment on West 46th Street in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood to a larger home in Astoria, Queens-fittingly, not far from where his great-aunt and great-uncle, Alice and Herb Horn of the Entwistle family, once lived.
Joe had a lifelong passion for genealogy, which he shared with his brother George. Together they traveled extensively throughout the United States and Europe, spending countless hours studying census records in archives, town halls, and church rectories, and later exploring the graveyards connected to census research. Their work uncovered many previously unknown relatives-second, third, fourth and fifth cousins-though the full story of their ancestral Kennedy line remains a mystery. Joe especially loved meeting relatives discovered through his research and often traveled to visit them in person.
Joseph preferred historical fiction and admired the Barnes Foundation art collection in Philadelphia. He was an enthusiastic cook who delighted in good food, thoughtful conversation, and the company of friends. Though he never sought the spotlight, he had a gift for making others laugh. He was infectiously lovable and known to all for his distinct, unmistakable giggle-something he never outgrew and something that won smiles wherever he went.
Throughout his life, Joe loved the beach, body surfing, biking, and, in his younger years, rollerblading. When it came to family hikes or long runs, he had an uncanny ability to keep up with anyone, powering through whenever he chose.
Joe was preceded in death by his parents; his stepmother, Pamela Tomlinson Kennedy; his sister, Kathleen, who passed away shortly after birth; and his college roommate and longtime friend, Dr. Patrick McManus. He is survived by his uncle, John J. ("Jack") Kennedy; his brothers, George and Michael; his sister, Pamela; and many Kennedy and Entwistle cousins.
Intrigued and fascinated by trees-especially the London Plane-Joe volunteered for the 2000 Manhattan tree census. He often visited George on Capitol Hill and walked along the Mall in our nation's capital, sometimes joining his brother for a stroll on the Mall and sometimes strolling on his own. A tree will be planted in his name on Capitol Hill in the District of Columbia.
Monsignor Terrence Hogan has offered a funeral Mass at the Vatican for the soul of Joseph Kennedy. In lieu of flowers, donations in Joseph's name to TreesNY.org or to Casey Trees would honor his life and memory.