Chris Kennedy Biography
Chris Kennedy is an American Businessman, Politician, and Chair of Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises, Inc. He is the son of former U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a member of the Kennedy family.
He served as Chair of the Board of Trustees for the University of Illinois from 2009 to 2015. Additionally, he was also president of Merchandise Mart Properties, a commercial property management firm based in Chicago, until April 2012. He was a candidate in the Democratic Party primary for Governor of Illinois in the 2018 election.
Chris Kennedy Age
Kennedy is 62 years old, he was born on July 4, 1963, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. He celebrates his birthday on 4 July every year, and his birth sign is Cancer.
Chris Kennedy Height
Chris Kennedy stands at a height of 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m).
Chris Kennedy Weight
Kennedy weighs 80 kg (176 lbs).
Early Life and Education
Born on July 4, 1963, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, Kennedy went to Our Lady of Victory Catholic School in McLean through the eighth grade. Later, he transferred to Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, and graduated in 1982. He volunteered at a home for runaway youth during his high school years.
In 1986, he graduated from Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. He graduated with a master of Business Administration degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, in 1994.
Rise to Fame and Breakthrough Moment
- Kennedy came into prominence due to his famous father, Robert F. Kennedy, who was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New York from January 1965 until his assassination in June 1968, when he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Major Achievements and Contributions
- He serves as the chairman of the Kennedy family investment firm Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises, Inc., and as the treasurer of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation.
- He was on the Executive Committee for the Chicago Community Trust, and he has been a board member of the Catholic Theological Union, Interface, Inc., and Knoll Inc.
- From 2000 until 2012, he was the president of Merchandise Mart Properties in Chicago, Illinois. The property was originally owned by the Kennedy family until it was sold to Vornado Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust.
Personal Life
Chris Kennedy Family, Parents
Kennedy was born in Boston, Massachusetts, as the son of Robert Francis Kennedy Sr.(father) and Ethel (née Skakel) Kennedy(mother), the eighth of their eleven children. He is also one of four grandchildren of George Skakel, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, born during the administration of his uncle, U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
Chris Kennedy Siblings
Kennedy was brought up alongside his four sisters namely; Mary Kerry Kennedy (born 1959), Mary Courtney Kennedy (born 1956), Kathleen Hartington Kennedy (born 1951), Rory Elizabeth Katherine Kennedy (born 1968), and his six brothers namely; Joseph Patrick Kennedy II (born 1952), Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr. (born 1954), David Anthony Kennedy (1955–1984), Michael LeMoyne Kennedy (1958–1997), Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy (born 1965), and Douglas Harriman Kennedy (born 1967).
He was brought up in his family home, Hickory Hill, in McLean, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.
Chris Kennedy Wife
Kennedy is currently married to his lovely wife, Sheila Sinclair-Berner. The couple had their wedding in 1987, and together they are blessed with four children, namely, Christopher George Kennedy, Clare Rose Kennedy, Sarah Louise Kennedy, and Katherine Berner-Kennedy, Jr.
The family resided in the Chicago suburb of Kenilworth. His wife received a law degree from Northwestern University and practiced at Sidley & Austin in Chicago before taking time off to take care of their children.
Chris Kennedy Children
Kennedy, together with his wife are proud parents of three daughters, Katherine Berner Kennedy (born 1990), Sarah Louise Kennedy (born 1994), and Clare Elizabeth Kennedy (born 1998), and one son, Christopher George Kennedy, Jr. (born 1992).
Chris Kennedy Net Worth
Chris Kennedy has an estimated net worth of around $12 million. This includes his assets, money, and income. His primary source of income is his career as a Businessman. Through his various sources of income, Kennedy has been able to accumulate a good fortune but prefers to lead a modest lifestyle.
Top Box Foods
Kennedy founded the non-profit Top Box Foods based in Chicago in May 2012. The organization was started as a way for families living in areas that either lack grocery stores or have plenty of fast food to get discounted groceries.
Originally, Kennedy invested $150,000 to get Top Box started, and then designed the organization to be self-supporting. As an organization, Top Box buys food, boxes it in different combinations, and delivers it to churches and organizations in mostly low-income neighborhoods monthly.
The food items in the box change from month to month, including a wide range of fruits, vegetables, meats, and frozen meals, with prices ranging from $19 to $39. The boxes can be ordered online or through the boxes delivered by the organizations. These organizations, otherwise known as Top Box “host sites,” range from small neighborhood churches with a few dozen families to some of Chicago’s largest, including Trinity United Church of Christ and Salem Baptist Church.
