Edward Kennedy

Imagine Ted Kennedy with a different father. The Massachusetts senator, who passed away earlier this morning from the effects of brain cancer at 77, was the third, nearly forgotten son of a true bastard, Joseph. His oldest brother Joe was the star in his father's universe, but the mantle was passed to brother John — who some say was bought the presidency by Joe. Sr. — when their older brother was killed in WWII.

It is probably impossible to do, but it is clear that after his father's passing, the assassination of two of his brothers, dealing with cancer in two of his three children (who all survived and were able to accept his presidential medal of freedom at a recent ceremony), and being knocked around by life in what could have been a gilded pleasure cage, Ted Kennedy became his own man and the gentleman and father his dad never was. RIP.