Nicholas J. Pritzker (born October 16, 1945) is an American real estate and venture entrepreneur in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. He served as the Chairman of the board and CEO of the Hyatt Development Corporation. He is a member of the wealthy

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 ...

, who owned chewing-tobacco giant

Conwood The American Snuff Company, formerly Conwood Sales Company LLC, is a US tobacco manufacturing company that makes a variety of smokeless tobacco products, including dipping tobacco or moist snuff, chewing tobacco in the forms of loose-leaf, plug, ...

before selling it to

Reynolds American Reynolds American, Inc. is an American tobacco company which is a subsidiary of British American Tobacco and is the second-largest tobacco company in the United States. Its holdings include R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, American Snuff Compan ...

Early life and education

Pritzker was born in Chicago on 16 October 1945, son of Jack Nicholas Pritzker (1903-1979) and Rhoda Goldberg Pritzker (1914-2007). He attended

Reed College Reed College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland, Portland, Oregon, E ...

Lake Forest College Lake Forest College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Lind University by a group of Presbyterian ministers, the college has been coeducatio ...

and the London School of Film. He went on to receive a J.D. from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

Career

Pritzker assumed responsibility of Hyatt Hotels Corporation in

Chicago, Illinois 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 ...

after working with his father, Jack Pritzker, in real estate. He served as the president of the company and oversaw international hotel projects. Pritzker also served on Hyatt Hotel Corporation's board of directors from 1980 to 2007. He is an independent entrepreneur and co-founder of Tao Capital. The investment firm primarily invests in sustainable energy and disruptive technology businesses. Tao Capital's early investments include

Tesla Motors Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it designs, manufactures and sells battery electric vehicles (BEVs), stationary battery energy storage devices from hom ...

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

, Twist Bioscience,

Aquion Energy Aquion Energy was a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania–based company that manufactured sodium ion batteries ( salt water batteries) and electricity storage systems. The company claimed to provide a low-cost way to store large amounts of energy (e.g. for ...

, Atlantica Hotels, United Record Pressing and Foundations Recovery Network. Pritzker is on the board of

JUUL Labs Juul Labs, Inc. (, stylized as JUUL Labs) is an American electronic cigarette company headquartered in San Francisco. Its flagship product is the Juul electronic cigarette, which atomizes nicotine salts derived from tobacco supplied by one-t ...

since 2017, an

electronic cigarette An electronic cigarette (e-cigarette), or vape, is a device that simulates smoking. It consists of an atomizer, a power source such as a battery, and a container such as a cartridge or tank. Instead of smoke, the user inhales vapor. As such ...

company.

Philanthropy

He has served on various non-profit boards including as Vice Chairman of

Conservation International Conservation International (CI) is an American nonprofit environmental organization headquartered in Crystal City, Virginia, in Arlington County, Virginia. CI's work focuses on science, policy and partnership with businesses, governments and co ...

, Chairman of the Grand Victoria Foundation, Vice Chairman of Clean Energy Trust, and Chairman of the Libra Foundation.

Personal life

Pritzker is married to Susan Stowell Pritzker and they have four children.Forbes: The World's Billionaires - Nicholas Pritzker, II
November 2019 They live in

Nicasio Nicasio ( ; Spanish for " Nicasius") is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Marin County, California, United States. It is located west-southwest of Novato, at an elevation of . As of the 2020 census the CDP population w ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

.Los Angeles Times: "Tiny Hamlet Wary of Hotelier's Plan for Big Family Compound" by Carol Pogash
March 16, 2003 Nick is a loyal follower of the band

Widespread Panic Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell (musician), John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Duane Trucks, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJ ...

and has not missed a show since 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pritzker, Nicholas 1945 births Living people 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American Jews American billionaires American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Businesspeople from Chicago Hyatt people People from Marin County, California Lake Forest College alumni Philanthropists from Illinois

Nicholas J. Pritzker Nicholas J. Pritzker (born October 16, 1945) is an American real estate and venture entrepreneur in San Francisco, California. He served as the Chairman of the board and CEO of the Hyatt Development Corporation. He is a member of the wealthy Prit ...

University of Chicago alumni University of Chicago Law School alumni