Christopher G. Kennedy

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Christopher George "Chris" Kennedy (born July 4, 1963) is an American businessman, politician, and Chair of Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises, Inc.

He is a son of former U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a member of the Kennedy family.

Kennedy served as Chair of the Board of Trustees for the University of Illinois from 2009 to 2015.

Until April 2012, he was also president of Merchandise Mart Properties, a commercial property management firm based in Chicago.He was a candidate in the Democratic Party primary for Governor of Illinois in the 2018 election.

Early life and education

Kennedy was born on July 4, 1963 in St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in the Brighton section of Boston, Massachusetts to Robert Francis Kennedy Sr. and Ethel Kennedy, née Skakel, the eighth of their eleven children. He is 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. His siblings are:

He grew up at his family home, Hickory Hill, in McLean, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C., and attended the Our Lady of Victory Catholic School in McLean through the eighth grade. He transferred to Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Maryland, also a suburb of Washington, and graduated in 1982. While in high school, he volunteered at a home for runaway youth.

Kennedy graduated from Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1986.

In 1994, he graduated with a master of business administration degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Personal life

Kennedy met Sheila Sinclair-Berner (born December 4, 1962), an Illinois native, while attending Boston College. After graduating from college in 1986, Kennedy moved to Decatur, Illinois, and married Sheila in 1987. The couple had four children, Katherine Berner Kennedy (born 1990), Christopher George Kennedy, Jr. (born 1992), Sarah Louise Kennedy (born 1994), and Clare Elizabeth Kennedy (born 1998), whom they raised in the Chicago suburb of Kenilworth. His wife earned a J.D. degree from Northwestern University and practiced at Sidley & Austin in Chicago before taking time off to take care of their children.

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Career

Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises, Inc., chairman Kennedy is chairman of the Kennedy family investment company Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises, Inc. He served on the Executive Committee of the Chicago Community Trust, and he has served as a board member of the Catholic Theological Union, Interface, Inc., and Knoll Inc. He is a member of Ariel Investments' mutual fund board of trustees.

Kennedy went from Boston to Decatur in the 1980s and spent his life on hunger, whether as the chairman of the Greater Chicago Food Depository or helping with the non-profit run by he and his wife, Top Box Foods.

From 2000 to 2012, Kennedy was the president of Merchandise Mart Properties in Chicago, Illinois. The home was originally owned by the Kennedy family until it was sold to Vornado Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust. The Merchandise Mart, one of Merchandise Mart Properties' buildings, is both a luxury wholesale design center and one of Chicago's most prominent multinational business locations. For a total of 4.2 million square feet (390,000 square meters), the Mart spans two city blocks and rises twenty-five stories, as well as numerous trade, customer, and community festivals held there each year.

Kennedy served as Chairman of the University of Illinois' Board of Trustees. Following his role in Steven Salaita's tumultuous unhiring process and Republican governor Bruce Rauner's election in November 2014, he resigned from the board in November 2014. In 2015, Kennedy received the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Spirit of Courage award for his role in the scandal.

In Africa against Phytophthora infestans, Kennedy has joined with CIP (the International Potato Center) and 2Blades, the same blight that brought some of his ancestors to the United States. He is chairing the 2Blades African Potato Initiative, which is growing and exporting seed potatoes to be sold in Uganda and Kenya.

Top Box Foods, a Chicago-based non-profit founded in May 2012. The group was established as a way to get discounted groceries to families who live in areas that either lack grocery stores or have a shortage of fast food. Kennedy first invested $150,000 to get Top Box off the ground, but the company later determined it to be self-sustaining.

Top Box, a corporation that buys food, boxes it in various ways and delivers it monthly to churches and organizations in majority low-income communities. The food items in the box change from month to month and include a diverse range of fruits, vegetables, meats, and frozen meals, with box prices ranging from $19 to $39. The boxes can be ordered online or at the companies where the boxes are delivered. These groups, also known as Top Box "host sites," range from small neighborhood churches with a few dozen families to some of Chicago's biggest, including Trinity United Church of Christ and Salem Baptist Church.

Political career

Kennedy's political activism began at an early age, and during 1980 and 1980, he worked with his uncle, George Washington. Senator Ted Kennedy's bid for the 1980 Democratic Party's nomination for President Barack Obama was rejected by Senator Ted Kennedy of the United States. In 1988, he was also treasurer of the campaign committee for his brother Joe's reelection to the United States House of Representatives. Over the years, Ted, his uncle Ted, his sister Kathleen, his brother Joe, and his cousin Mark Kennedy Shriver have all been involved in numerous fundraising activities in Chicago for his uncle Ted, his sister Kathleen, Joe, and his cousin Mark Kennedy Shriver.

"I have a lot to keep up with," Kennedy said, including a brother who may run for Congress, a cousin who may run for president, another in Congress, an uncle who could run for governor, and a cousin who might run for governor Arnold [Schwarzenegger], who is considering running for governor.

Kennedy has served in a variety of capacities beyond his immediate family, including hosting a fundraiser for Barack Obama in his bid for the US Senate.

Kennedy, as did many others in August 2009, decided not to run for the US Senate in August 2009. Also in August 2009, on the day after his uncle Ted's death on August 25, 2009, Democratic Illinois Governor Pat Quinn appointed him to the University of Illinois board of trustees. Kennedy was elected by the trustees as their chairman on September 10, 2009.

He had never run for any political office before February 8, 2017.

In a fundraising email, Kennedy argued for "a property tax system that can't be exploited by the wealthy and insiders" during his governorship. J.B. Pritzker, one of his Democratic gubernatorial candidates, was chastised for a substantial property tax reduction on a Gold Coast mansion. In a reference to Pritzker's land taxes, Kennedy said, "It's an inherently corrupt system and we should ignore it." "The Cook County property tax appeals market is well-known for its price transparency," the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative website, said. Kennedy has gone further to state that Mike Madigan is doing something wrong while working as a property tax attorney, referring to his conflict of interest when serving as the house speaker and not as a land tax attorney.

Congressman Bobby Rush endorsed Kennedy in June 2017.

Kennedy called for an open primary in the 2018 gubernatorial race, urging the Cook County Democratic party not to throw their weight behind any other candidate, rather than encouraging voters to vote all of the candidates in the field.

Kennedy lost the Democratic primary on March 20, 2018, finishing in third place behind Pritzker and state senator Daniel Biss. He had only two counties, Ford and Hardin.

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