Growing up in Canada, there was a name I associated with the American empire more than any other:  Kennedy.

The wealthy family of the U.S. ambassador to Great Britain.

The World War Two hero lost.  The older sister lost in a plane crash shortly after that. 

The president assassinated.  The senator assassinated. 

The sister who inspired the Special Olympics.  The other sister who started it. 

The nation's princess married without dear dad.  The nation's prince, gone too soon.

The stories go on, and on.

But the surviving son of this fascinating clan became a historical tour de force in his own right... the "Lion of the Senate".

He was the man who authored more than 2, 500 bills... and played a major role crafting laws that helped shape modern America:

The Civil Rights Act.   The American With Disabilities Act.    No child left behind.  Laws that fought discrimination.

All of our lives have been touched by Ted Kennedy's work.

Certainly in the coming years,  there will be Kennedy children who stay in public life.  But the last of the children of patriarch Joe and matriarch Rose are now gone.

The touchstone of  the age of Camelot...  now out of our reach forever.

What a legacy.  What a life.

Rest in peace Teddy.