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10th Anniversary Of JFK Jr.'s Death Passes Quietly

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Jul 16, 2009 10:25 am US/Eastern

10th Anniversary Of JFK Jr.'s Death Passes Quietly

NEW YORK (CBS) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 4: John F. Kennedy, Jr., is portrayed in this file photo.
AP
Click to enlarge 2 of 4: John F. Kennedy, Jr., is shown playing under his father's desk in the Oval Office at the White House in this famous photograph.
Library of Congress
Click to enlarge 3 of 4: President John F. Kennedy, Sr., walks with his son, John F. Kennedy, Jr., at the White House in 1963.
Library of Congress
Click to enlarge 4 of 4: John F. Kennedy, Jr., salutes his father's casket following the funeral mass, as his sister Caroline stands nearby, Nov. 25, 1963.
AP

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The tenth anniversary of the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr., in a small plane crash off Martha's Vineyard passed with relatively little notice Thursday, overshadowed by attention paid to the 40th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 moon mission.

Kennedy, 38, his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, 33, and his sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette, 34, died when the small Piper Saratoga II HP he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean July 16, 1999.

The traveling party had taken off from New Jersey's Essex County Airport. They were en route to the wedding of Kennedy's cousin, Rory, in Hyannis, Mass., but were to drop off Lauren Bessette on Martha's Vineyard along the way.

The National Transportation Safety Board later ruled the crash had most likely been caused by "the pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane during a descent over water at night, which was a result of spatial disorientation."

Weather conditions in the area at the time were clear below 12,000 feet with visibility at ten miles. Kennedy had only been flying for 15 months.

In the years leading up to his death, Kennedy was often seen around Manhattan, many times riding his bicycle from place to place. He worked for a time as prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's office before publishing George, a current events and lifestyle magazine, which folded after his death.

The son of the 35th President of the United States gained the reputation as somewhat of a playboy, dating a number of high-profile women, including actresses Sarah Jessica Parker and Darryl Hannah and singer Madonna, before meeting Bessette shortly after the death of his mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis, in 1994.

Kennedy and Bessette married in 1996.

At a July 23, 1999, memorial service, Kennedy was eulogized by his uncle, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who noted that his nephew died too early, just as his father had, when he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, in 1963.

"We dared to think...that this John Kennedy would live to comb gray hair, with his beloved Carolyn by his side," the senator said. "But, like his father, he had every gift but length of years."

Thursday was also the 40th anniversary of the liftoff of Apollo 11, which four days later would send two of its three crew members to the lunar surface. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin would be the first men to walk on the moon before returning safely to earth a few days later.

It was the achievement of a goal set by Kennedy's father, the president, before a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961.

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth," Pres. Kennedy said.