Tatiana Schlossberg, granddaughter of JFK and cousin of RFK Jr., dies of cancer at 35

Schlossberg’s death comes just weeks after she revealed it publicly in The New Yorker that he had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a fast-growing blood cancer with a rare mutation usually seen in older patients. She wrote that she was given less than a year to live with the mutation, known as Inversion 3, which made the disease particularly difficult to treat.​

Schlossberg wrote that doctors first detected abnormalities in her blood count shortly after the birth of her second child in May 2024, when a doctor noticed her extremely high white blood cell levels. What might have initially been considered a pregnancy-related complication ultimately led to a cascade of tests that confirmed leukemia at a time when she was recovering from childbirth and caring for a toddler at home.​

His treatment included prolonged hospitalizations, intensive chemotherapy and at least one stem cell or bone marrow transplant, including a donation from his sister, Rose Schlossberg. In her essay, Schlossberg wrote candidly about the dissonance of facing a terminal diagnosis when she considered herself exceptionally healthy, noting her regular runs in Central Park and even her swim across the Hudson River to raise money for blood cancer research.​

Born and raised in New York, Schlossberg was the second child of Caroline Kennedy and artist-designer Edwin Schlossberg. She grew up largely out of the direct political spotlight, although she was still part of one of the most scrutinized families in America.​

Graduated from Yale University After continuing his studies at the University of Oxford, Schlossberg built a career focused on environmental issues and climate change. She worked as a science and climate journalist at The New York Times and has also contributed to outlets including The Atlantic And The Washington Post. In 2019 she published the book Discreet consumption: the environmental impact you don’t know existsexamining how daily habits lead to global pollution and warming.​

Earlier in her career, she worked for The file in northern New Jersey, where she covered everything from crime to bad weather and was recognized as Rookie of the Year by the New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists in 2012. ​

A complex public voice

In her New Yorkers essay and other remarks, she criticized policies advanced by her cousin, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., arguing that his approach to public health and research funding was harmful and “an embarrassment» to her and the rest of the family.

She wrote that she was spending more and more of her life in the care of doctors, nurses and researchers, while “Bobby cut nearly half a billion dollars for research into mRNA vaccines, a technology that could be used against some cancers,” in addition to slashing billions of dollars in government funding. National Institutes of Health. She wrote that she worried about funding for leukemia and bone marrow research at Memorial Sloan Kettering, where she was receiving care, and that certain trials her cousin was threatening were her only chance at achieving remission from her cancer.