Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy, the long-time U.S. Senator and leader of one of America's most storied political families, died late Tuesday after a year-long battle with brain cancer, CNN reported.

Kennedy, one of the most influential and longest-serving senators in U.S. history, had been battling cancer since May of 2008.

The Massachusetts native was 77 years old.

The liberal standard-bearer was the brother of President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963, and New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was fatally shot while campaigning for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination.

Kennedy, who ran for president in 1980, was in his ninth term in the Senate, having been first elected in 1962.

His sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, died earlier this month at 88.