Karen Pritzker

Karen Pritzker, a known socialite, is a direct descendant of the Pritzker family of Chicago, America. The family has produced many billionaires to the American society. The patriarch of the family, the revered, A.N. Pritzker, along with his sons – Robert, who is Karen’s father and Jay, established the Pritzkers’ business empire in America several decades ago.

Pritzker’s Prestigious Family

The Pritzkers family basks in the glory of being the 19th largest private house in America. Their business interests include the Hyatt hotel chain, the Marmon Group (a conglomerate of manufacturing and industrial service companies), the Superior Bank of Chicago, the TransUnion Credit Bureau, and the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

Karen Pritzker – the Humanitarian

After completing her graduation in Bachelor of Science from the University of Chicago, Karen Pritzker married investor Michael Vlock of Branford, Connecticut. Being a known socialite, Karen showed great passion towards the amelioration of the American society. The couple bequeathed $3 million to Yale School of Medicine Professorship in pediatric surgery named after Karen’s father, Robert Pritzker – a Chicago industrialist and philanthropist. Karen Pritzker founded the non-profit educational website Myhero.com along with Jeanne Meyers and Rita Stern in 1995, as a response to the dearth of positive role models in the media for children. Through their family foundation, Karen Pritzker and Michael Vlock have guaranteed $1 million to build a visitor’s center at the site of the Treblinka extermination camp in Poland. The camp has earned its notoriety for slaughtering numerous people during 1942–1943. In the political side, the couple contributed nearly $100,000 to Republicans and only $7,350 to Democrats in the last election cycle.

Other Pritzkers

Karen’s brother, James Pritzker, founded the Pritzer Military Library, a non-partisan research institution for the study of military history in Chicago. Her sister, Linda Pritzker, has affiliations with several organizations such as American Enterprise Institute, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Colson Associates Inc., Commercial Club of Chicago, Field Museum, and Lincoln Park Zoo.

Karen in Forbes List

Karen Pritzker ranks 236th on the Forbes 400 list of "The 400 Richest Americans 2009" with a wealth of $1.5 billion. Much of her wealth has been from the investment industry. She, along with her husband and three children, lives in New Haven, Connecticut.

Karen Pritzker Profile in Forbes

Karen Pritzker Profile

The non-profit educational website Myhero.com founded by Kar...