Latest saga in the 'Kennedy Curse'

(WWLP) - Through generations, the Kennedy family has been plagued by tragedy and controversy, the so-called "Kennedy Curse."

The latest chapter in the Kennedy saga is the death of Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, who lost his battle to brain cancer late Tuesday night. He was the patriarch of the Kennedy family and the last tie to Camelot.

Before Sen. Kennedy’s death, the family buried three other brothers. The first to be buried was the oldest son, Joe Jr., who died in 1944 when his Navy plane crashed during World War II.

Four years later, his sister Kathleen would die in a private plane crash over the French Alps.

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 as he rode in a motorcade with his wife in Dallas, Texas.

Five years later, younger brother Robert Kennedy would suffer the same fate, assassinated on June 5, 1968 while he campaigned for president in Los Angeles, California.

Robert’s son, Michael Kennedy, died in a skiing accident in Aspen, Colorado on New Year’s Day in 1998. His older brother, David, died 13 years earlier of a drug overdose.

Some of Ted Kennedy's crises were of his own doing.

On July 18, 1969, an allegedly drunk Ted Kennedy was at the wheel of a car that drove off the Chappaquiddick bridge on Martha's Vineyard, killing passenger Mary Jo Kopechne. He would not report the incident to the police until 10 hours after the crash. It was a scandal that ultimately tainted his run for president in 1980.

Teddy Kennedy also survived an ill-fated plane flight to western Massachusetts in 1964. The plane crashed in Southampton, killing the pilot and one of his aides, and leaving Kennedy with a broken back and collapsed lung.

In 1999, yet another plane crash would plague the Kennedy clan. John F. Kennedy Jr. was killed along with his wife and sister-in-law when the plane he was piloting crashed off Martha's Vineyard.

His nephew, William Kennedy Smith, was accused of raping a woman at the family’s Palm Beach estate on Easter Weekend in 1991 after a late night out drinking with his uncle. During the high-profile trial, Teddy testified on behalf of the prosecution. Smith was acquitted of all charges.

Ted Kennedy's children, like their father, also suffered from cancer. Two of his children Kara and Edward Jr. were stricken with cancer. Edward Jr. lost his leg to bone cancer at the age of 12, and Kara had a cancerous tumor removed from her lung in 2003.

Then, in May 2008 Ted suffered a seizure on Cape Cod and discovered he had a malignant brain tumor which would eventually take his life.