Daniel Pritzker (born 1959) is an American billionaire heir, musician, film director, and member of the

Pritzker family The Pritzker family is an American family engaged in entrepreneurship and philanthropy, and one of the wealthiest families in the United States of America (staying in the top 10 of ''Forbes'' magazine's "America's Richest Families" list since the ...

Early life

Pritzker was born to a Jewish family, the son of Marian (née Friend) and

Jay Pritzker Jay Arthur Pritzker (August 26, 1922 – January 23, 1999) was an American entrepreneur, conglomerate organizer, and member of the Pritzker family. Early life and education Pritzker was born in Chicago, Illinois to Jewish parents who emi ...

. He is the grandson of A. N. Pritzker. He is a 1981 graduate of

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

and earned a Juris Doctor from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Law School in 1986.

Career

Daniel and his wife Karen are trustees of the Jay Pritzker Foundation, a

philanthropic Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

fund that created the Pritzker Challenge at Tufts with gifts of $10 million. The Pritzker Challenge is designed to encourage members of the Tufts community to establish endowed or term

scholarships A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

for underprivileged minority students. Pritzker was the founder, guitarist and songwriter for the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

band

Sonia Dada Sonia Dada was an American rock, soul, and rhythm and blues band, formed in Chicago in 1990. Founding member Daniel Pritzker enlisted Michael Scott, Paris Delane, and Sam Hogan after hearing the latter three sing in a subway station.Biography ...

. Pritzker is ranked 353 in the 2020 list of "The 400 Richest Americans" by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' magazine, with a net worth of $2.4 billion. He purchased Jerry Garcia's "Wolf" guitar for $790,000 in 2002. In 2017, he donated it to a charity auction, where

Brian Halligan Brian Halligan is an American executive and author. He is the co-founder oPropeller a venture capital fund targeting climate change through investment in the earth's most precious resource, its oceans. He is the co-founder and executive chairman ...

placed the winning bid totaling $1.9M. After many years, he directed a film about jazz pioneer

Buddy Bolden Charles Joseph "Buddy" Bolden (September 6, 1877 – November 4, 1931) was an African American cornetist who was regarded by contemporaries as a key figure in the development of a New Orleans style of ragtime music, or "jass", which later ca ...

which was released to theaters in May 2019. Originally titled ''Bolden!'' before being renamed to just '' Bolden'', he funded the project from first draft to theatrical release because he felt the life of Buddy Bolden "was American history and tragedy of mythical proportion. From the outset I saw this as an opportunity to make an allegorical story about the soul of America."

Personal life

Pritzker is married to Karen Edensword and has five children. The couple lives in

Kentfield, California Kentfield (formerly Ross Landing, Tamalpais, and Kent) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Marin County, California, United States, just north of San Francisco. Kentfield is located southwest of downtown San Rafael, at an elevation of 115 fee ...

Filmography

* '' Bolden'' (2019) - Director and writer

References

Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 1959 births Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law alumni Tufts University alumni American male guitarists American philanthropists American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Daniel Pritzker Jewish American philanthropists American billionaires People from Kentfield, California Film directors from California 21st-century American Jews {{US-musician-stub