American environmental journalist Tatiana Schlossberg, granddaughter of former US President John F. Kennedy, has died of cancer at the age of 35, her family announced on Tuesday.
In a statement shared on the JFK Library Foundation’s Instagram account, the family wrote:
“Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts.”
Schlossberg was a respected science and climate reporter for The New York Times. In November, she wrote a deeply personal essay for The New Yorker revealing that she had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.
Doctors first noticed something was wrong after the birth of her second child in May 2024, when tests revealed an unusually high white blood cell count. Acute myeloid leukemia is typically seen in older adults and has also been reported among first responders to the 9/11 attacks in New York.
Writing about her experience, she shared the emotional burden of her prognosis:
“During the latest clinical trial, my doctor told me that he could keep me alive for a year, maybe. My first thought was that my kids, whose faces live permanently on the inside of my eyelids, wouldn’t remember me.”
In her essay, Schlossberg was also sharply critical of her relative Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who currently serves as health secretary in President Donald Trump’s cabinet. She condemned his policies for restricting access to vaccines and cutting funding for government medical research, saying she watched his confirmation “from my hospital bed” despite his lack of experience in medicine, public health, or government.
Beyond her journalism for The New York Times, Schlossberg’s work appeared in leading publications such as The Atlantic and Vanity Fair. In 2019, she authored the award-winning book “Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don’t Know You Have,” which explored how everyday habits contribute to global environmental damage.
Tatiana Schlossberg was the daughter of designer Edwin Schlossberg and diplomat Caroline Kennedy. She is survived by her husband, physician George Moran, and their two young children.