Ten years after: A look back at the life and death of JFK Jr.

He remains forever the uncrowned king

• PHOTO GALLERY / SNAPSHOTS FROM THE LIFE OF JFK JR. / CLICK HERE
  

He would be 49 now, close to Barack Obama in age and sharing this moment with him. Maybe he'd be in elective politics, perhaps as Hillary's replacement in the Senate.

Or he might even have been thinking to run for the job his father once held. We will never know.

Ten years after his death on July 16, 1999, John Kennedy Jr. remains forever the uncrowned king, a lost leader who might have found this time his own to command. He was a visionary. His magazine George caught perfectly the moment when celebrity and politics became fused and botox became more important than biotech.

He had an extraordinary common touch. This is a true story: A few years back when John F. Kennedy Jr. was an Assistant District Attorney in New York he received a letter from an Irish farmer which stated in part, "I am coming to the United States for a visit. I will die a happy man if I could shake the hand of the son of President Kennedy." Kennedy received thousands of letters every year seeking appointments, but for some reason this one grabbed his attention and he agreed to meet.

"On the day in question an old guy showed up in his best polyester suit with a very broad tie stretching down below his belt buckle" remembers a former Kennedy colleague. "He walked in the door, pulled out a picture of the dead president from his back pocket and handed it to John to sign. When John did so, tears welled up in the old man's eyes.

"He then pulled an Irish linen tablecloth out of his bag and handed it to John who accepted it gracefully. The man then took out his Instamatic camera and snapped numerous shots. He went back happy to Ireland with pictures of himself and the son of John Kennedy."

Such was the appeal of young Kennedy to many Irish.

• STORY / THE KENNEDYS' IRISH ROOTS / CLICK HERE

It was no surprise that the Irish community in New York did not a forget him in his tragic hour . A Memorial Mass for John Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn and sister-in-law Lauren Besette was celebrated. at Old St. Patrick's Cathedral on Mott Street in Manhattan. There in the old cathedral where generations of Irish not long off the famine ships worshipped, the memory of the most famous Irish emigrant family was rekindled and their latest tragic loss commemorated.

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Nster.com