Washington - Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a younger sister of late US President John F. Kennedy and known for her work on behalf of people with mental disabilities, died Tuesday morning, US media reports said.

New flashes by the TV network CNN as well as the Washington Post and New York times reported that Shriver died at the age of 88 in hospital in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Founder of the Special Olympics to allow people with mental disabilities to compete in sports, Eunice Shriver was from one of the most prominent American political families.

A sister to the late President Kennedy and late Senator Robert Kennedy - both were assassinated in the 1960s - she is survived by Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy. She was also the mother-in- law of current California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. (dpa)