WASHINGTON — The press secretary who announced the death of Robert F. Kennedy, Frank Mankiewicz, has died.

Mankiewicz, 90, was a Democratic political operative, journalist and author. He served as political director to Sen. George McGovern in his 1972 presidential campaign.

The son of filmmakers, Mankiewicz studied journalism and law and worked for newspapers in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. He assumed the role of President John F. Kennedy’s Peace Corps director in Lima, Peru, in 1962 and later was a regional director in Washington.

In 1966, Mankiewicz became press secretary to Sen. Robert Kennedy of New York. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles in June 1968.