[2] Kennedy attended public schools and received a bachelor's degree from Weber State University, graduating in 1928.

He completed the Stonier Graduate School of Banking program, then housed at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, in 1939.

At the time of his appointment as Treasury Secretary in 1969, Continental Illinois ranked as the 15th largest bank in the world.

Kennedy served as counselor to John K. Edmunds in the presidency of the LDS Church's Chicago Stake.

He was also a member of the board of Nauvoo Restoration from its founding in 1962, and advised David O. McKay, Harold B. Lee and other LDS Church leaders on banking matters.

[7] Kennedy served as a special assistant on debt management to Treasury Secretary George M. Humphrey.

He also served on the staff of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve system from 1930 to 1946,[8] ending up assistant to the Chairman.

In October 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy (no relation) appointed him a member of a private corporation (COMSAT) to own and operate the United States' share of a global satellite communications system.

Kennedy himself died in Salt Lake City, Utah, on May 1, 1996, from cardiovascular disease and congestive heart failure, at the age of 90.