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Maria Teresa Thierstein Simões-Ferreira Heinz, known as Teresa Heinz Kerry (born October 5, 1938), is an American philanthropist, widow of the late U.S. Senator H. John Heinz III, and wife of Senator John Kerry.
[edit] Early lifeMaria Teresa Thierstein Simões Ferreira was born to Portuguese parents in Portuguese East Africa, at the time a colony and now the independent nation of Mozambique. [1] Her father was José Simões Ferreira Júnior (1910-1989; born in Albergaria-a-Velha, and died in Porto, Portugal),[2] and her mother was Irene Thierstein (1912-1997), born a Portuguese and British[3] national in Lourenço Marques,[4] daughter of Alberto Thierstein,[5] a British national of Swiss origin[citation needed] from Valletta, Malta (at the time a British-ruled territory), and Maria Burló,[6] born in Alexandria, Egypt, who both migrated to Portuguese East Africa. Heinz grew up in Portuguese East Africa's capital, Lourenço Marques, later named Maputo. Her father was a doctor, and she led a privileged life. Her father often brought her on calls into the African bush. Heinz earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Romance Languages and literature from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1960. She graduated from the School of Translation and Interpretation at the University of Geneva in 1963 before moving to the United States to work at the United Nations as an interpreter. She is a fluent speaker of English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese. [edit] Marriages and childrenSimões-Ferreira married Henry John Heinz III of the Heinz family (famous for the food products company H. J. Heinz) on February 5, 1966, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1971, she became a naturalized citizen of the United States. The couple had three sons: H. John Heinz IV (born November 4, 1966), Andre Heinz (born December 12, 1969), and Christopher Drake Heinz (born March 20, 1973). Heinz first met Kerry in 1990 at an Earth Day rally. This was the only reported time that she and Kerry met before the death of her husband. After he died in an airplane crash on April 4, 1991, in Pennsylvania, Heinz inherited his fortune. The next time she met Kerry was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992 during the Earth Summit, which Heinz attended as a member of a State Department delegation appointed by President George H. W. Bush. Their courtship began in 1993 and they were married May 26, 1995 on Nantucket, Massachusetts. Choosing to remain a registered Republican until her second husband's presidential bid, she kept her name Teresa Heinz. In May 2004, she said:
[edit] Philanthropy[citation needed] She is the chair of the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Vira I. Heinz Endowment and the Heinz Family Philanthropies, disbursing money to various social and environmental causes. She assists the city of Pittsburgh, where the Heinz family has many financial and family connections. In recognition of her philanthropy and activism, Heinz has received twelve honorary doctoral degrees:
Heinz was awarded the Albert Schweitzer Gold Medal for Humanitarianism in 2003. She has been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has served as a trustee of the New England prep school, St. Paul's School, which Kerry attended. [edit] Environmental programs and advocacyHeinz has contributed to the environmental movement through many programs and outreach efforts. In 1990, she co-founded the Alliance To End Childhood Lead Poisoning (which later was renamed the Alliance for Healthy Homes), through the first environmental grant of the Vira I. Heinz Endowment.[8] The website of the Alliance for Healthy Homes lists her as an "honorary board member" and praises her as "One of the foremost advocates on children's health and environmental issues."[9] In 1992, she attended the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, as a presidentially-appointed member of a delegation representing non-governmental organizations at the Summit.[10][11] In 1993, she co-founded, with Kerry and environmentalist academic Dr. Anthony D. Cortese, Second Nature, which brings "Education for Sustainability" to college campuses.[12] In 1993 she founded The Heinz Awards, including a category for outstanding contributions to the environment.[13] In 1995, through a $20 million grant from the Heinz Endowments, provided initial funding for The Heinz Center,[8] "a nonprofit institution dedicated to improving the scientific and economic foundation for environmental policy through multisectoral collaboration among industry, government, academia, and environmental organizations."[14] Since 1996, Heinz has hosted an annual "Women's Health and the Environment" conference series.[15] She founded the Teresa Heinz Scholars for Environmental Research program, which annually awards eight $10,000 awards for doctoral dissertation support and eight $5,000 awards for master's thesis support, for research having "public policy relevance that increases society's understanding of environmental concerns and proposed solutions."[16] Heinz is a board member of the Environmental Defense Fund.[17] [edit] Women's economic security programs and advocacyIn 1995, the book Pensions in Crisis: Why the system is failing America and how you can protect your future (later republished as The Pension Book) was published, with support from the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Foundation, and a foreword by Heinz.[18][19] Spurred by the issues uncovered by Pensions in Crisis, Heinz and her foundation created the Women's Retirement Initiative to "extend that investigation and examine how the dynamics of our pension and retirement system contribute to the disproportionate rate of poverty among older women."[18] In 1996, the Heinz Foundations created WISER, the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement.[20] [edit] WealthHeinz is the life estate beneficiary or outright beneficiary of her husband's trusts, making her either extremely wealthy in her own name or powerful as a trustee of Heinz family wealth.[citation needed] Kerry is wealthy in his own right, though not to the same degree, since he became a trust fund beneficiary of his mother's and Forbes family trusts. Kerry and Heinz signed a prenuptial agreement and have kept their premarital assets separate. Heinz has declined to disclose her personal tax returns, citing family trusts and privacy. She is estimated to be worth between $750 million and $1.2 billion. According to her most recently released income tax of 2003, the Kerry and Heinz paid an effective federal income tax rate of 12%. Heinz and Kerry live an affluent life. They own a six-floor, $7 million townhome in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood, a $9 million ocean-front home on Nantucket, a $5 million ski retreat in Idaho, a $4 million estate in Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania near the Heinz family's home base of Pittsburgh, and a $5 million home in Washington, D.C.'s Georgetown neighborhood.[citation needed] [edit] PoliticsHeinz was a registered Republican for most of her voting career, the same as her first husband, and she remained a registered Republican despite being married to Kerry. In January 2003, she changed her registration to the Democratic Party. Later in 2004, she reportedly changed her name from Teresa Heinz to Teresa Heinz Kerry during her husband's presidential run. After her husband's defeat, and shortly before she gave a speech to the National Council for Research on Women in January 2005, she changed back to Teresa Heinz.[1] In 2003, she was named to the PoliticsPA list of "Pennsylvania's Most Politically Powerful Women"[21] She is said to have been encouraged to run for her first husband's vacant Senate seat after his death. Heinz declined and refused to endorse Republican Rick Santorum's bid for the seat. She publicly denounced him as the "antithesis" of her late husband, and later called him "Forrest Gump with attitude." It was rumored she would challenge Santorum in 2006, running for her late first husband's seat as a Democrat, but instead, the Democratic nomination went to state treasurer Bob Casey, Jr. Two of her sons are believed to be Democrats. Christopher and André Heinz both spoke at the Democratic National Convention in July, 2004. Christopher is believed to be considering running for the House or the Senate from the state of Pennsylvania.[citation needed] John Heinz IV keeps a lower profile, and his political leanings are unclear. Had Kerry been elected President, Heinz Kerry would have been the second foreign-born First Lady of the United States and the first to be a naturalized citizen. British-born Louisa Adams, wife of President John Quincy Adams, was born in London, but since her father was an American diplomat she was considered an American citizen from birth. [edit] HealthIn December of 2009, Ms. Heinz revealed that she is being treated for Breast cancer.[22] She revealed she has had several lumpectomies and will be following up with a targeted type of radiation therapy treatment[23]. This type of treatment is called accelerated partial breast irradiation (ABPI) although she has not revealed what type of APBI she will be receiving. [edit] Public relationsHeinz has a reputation in the media as a very direct personality.[24][25] [edit] Laura Bush incidentIn an interview published in USA Today in July 2004, Heinz was asked about the differences between the First Lady and herself: "Well, you know, I don't know Laura Bush. But she seems to be calm, and she has a sparkle in her eye, which is good. But I don't know that she's ever had a real job—I mean, since she's been grown up. So her experience and her validation comes from important things, but different things."[26] Heinz retracted the statement later, saying she was "sincerely sorry" for the remark. "I had forgotten that Mrs. Bush had worked as a schoolteacher and librarian, and there couldn't be a more important job than teaching our children," Heinz said. "As someone who has been both a full time mom and full time in the workforce, I know we all have valuable experiences that shape who we are. I appreciate and honor Mrs. Bush's service to the country as first lady, and am sincerely sorry I had not remembered her important work in the past."[27] Bush brushed it off, saying, "It didn't matter to me. It didn't hurt my feelings. It was perfectly all right that she apologized. She didn't have to apologize. I know how tough it is. And actually I know those trick questions."[28] [edit] References
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Categories: 1938 births | Living people | People from Maputo | American philanthropists | American Roman Catholics | Colonial people in Mozambique | Forbes family | Heinz family | John Kerry | Kerry family | Naturalized citizens of the United States | People from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Portuguese Americans | Portuguese expatriates in Mozambique | Spouses of Massachusetts politicians | Spouses of members of the United States House of Representatives | Spouses of United States Senators | United Nations interpreters | University of the Witwatersrand alumni | Washington & Jefferson College people | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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