10 Years Already Since JFK Jr. Died

Exactly a decade ago, John F. Kennedy Jr. died when the small plane he was piloting to a family wedding in Martha's Vineyard, Mass. crashed, and Americans learned they had lost another Kennedy.

The "Son of Camelot" was killed along with his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette.

The man who was once a paparazzi magnet and crowned by People magazine as the "sexiest man alive" was dead at 38.

Born in 1960, the son of President John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy, JFK Jr. spent his early years living in the White House with his older sister, Caroline, and was known to an adoring public as "John-John."

But after his father was assassinated in 1963, the family moved to New York City, where John Jr. attended private school, then headed to the prestigious Brown University, and NYU Law School.

Instead of following in his dad's footsteps, he decided to start his own magazine, called "George," in 1995. "I've been lucky enough to have a lot of opportunities, and there is sort of this inherent energy associated with it," he said at the time.

"So many people who remember the Kennedy presidency always assumed that some day he would go into politics," observes Peter Canellos, editor of "Last Lion: the Rise and Fall of Ted Kennedy" and a CBS News analyst.

Now, 10 years after his tragic death, the public fascination continues.

People magazine has just released never-before-seen photos. And, with his uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, ailing, the family's legacy is being reflected on.

"Ted has carried the family torch for 40 years," Canellos says, "and there's a real question now whether there'll be another Kennedy family member who can step forward and be a national leader."