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 various business enterprises and philanthropy, and one of the wealthiest families in the United States (staying in the top 10 of ''Forbes'' magazine's "America's Richest Families" list since th ...

Early life and education

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 businessman and member of the Pritzker family. He was a founder of the Hyatt Corporation, having purchased the first Hyatt Hotel in 1957, and was responsible for ...

. He is the grandson of

A. N. Pritzker Abram Nicholas Pritzker (January 6, 1896 – February 8, 1986) was an American businessman and attorney, and a member of the Pritzker family. Early life and education Abram was the son of History of the Jews in Ukraine, Ukrainian Jewish immigra ...

. He is a 1981 graduate of

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

and earned a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

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, research ...

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

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

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 founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' magazine, with a net worth of $2.4 billion. He purchased

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 196 ...

's "Wolf" guitar for $790,000 in 2002. In 2017, he donated it to a charity auction, where Brian Halligan placed the winning bid totaling $1.9M. He keeps it at his private residence in

Utica, New York Utica () is the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most populous city in New York, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 census. It is located on the Mohawk River in the Mohawk Valley at the foot of the Adiro ...

After many years, he directed a film about jazz pioneer

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

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.

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 American billionaires People from Kentfield, California Film directors from California 21st-century American Jews {{US-musician-stub