He had been a longtime resident of Streetsville (now part of Mississauga), Ontario, where he was master of River Park Masonic Lodge in 1908 and 1909.

The new premier, George Drew, returned Kennedy to the position of Minister of Agriculture he had held a decade previously.

Drew moved to federal politics in 1948 after losing his own seat in the 1948 provincial election which, nevertheless, re-elected the Tory government.

The convention elected Leslie Frost as the new party leader, who succeeded Kennedy as Premier on May 4, 1949.

Thomas L. Kennedy Secondary School in Mississauga, which first opened to students in 1953, was named in his honour.