Teresa Heinz Kerry is a Mozambican born American businesswoman and philanthropist. She is also known as Teresa Heinz. She was born on 5 October 1938.
The early life of Teresa Heinz
Teresa Heinz was born in Mozambique which was a Portuguese overseas colony at that time to Portuguese parents. Her father, Dr. Jose Simoes-Ferreira was a tropical-disease specialist and her mother was Irene Thierstein. In 1960, from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, Teresa Heinz got a Bachelor of Arts in Romance Languages and Literature. She moved to the United States to be an interpreter at the United Nations after she graduated from the School of Translation and Interpretation at the University of Geneva in 1963.
The career of Teresa Heinz
Currently, Teresa Heinz manages various Heinz foundations, disbursing money to various social and environmental causes. She is a powerful trustee of Heinz family wealth. She is beneficiary of her late husband’s trust, which makes her extremely wealthy in her own name. In 2003, Teresa Heinz was awarded the Albert Schweitzer Gold Medal for Humanitarianism. She has been a Trustee of the St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, which she attended. She has also been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Besides it, she is also on the Board of Selectors of Jefferson Awards for Public Service.
Heinz has also contributed in many of the environmental moments through many programs for the benefit of the environment. She co-founded the Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning in 1990. In 1992, she represented Non-Governmental Organizations as she was a Delegate to the Earth Summit. She co-founded Second Nature with Kerry and environmentalist academic Dr. Anthony Cortese in 1993 which brings “Education for Sustainability” to college campuses. She founded Heinz awards in 1993. She also included a category for Outstanding Contributions to the Environments. Heinz has hosted an annual conference series since 1996 called “Women’s Health and the Environment”. She founded Teresa Heinz Scholars for Environmental Research. She is a board member of the Environmental Defence Fund. The Heinz Foundations created WISER, the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement in 1996.
The Net worth of Teresa Heinz
Teresa Heinz lives a wealthy life. Her net worth is estimated to be between $750 million and $1.2 billion. She owns a six-floor, $7 million townhomes in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. She also owns a $5 million ski retreat in Idaho, a $4 million estate in Fox Chapel and a $5 million home in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington DC.
Personal Life of Teresa Heinz
Teresa Heinz was married to John Heinz. They had 3 children together. After the death of John Heinz in 1991, she married John Kerry in 1995. In December 2009, Heinz revealed that she was being treated for breast cancer. She was taken to the Hospital after showing symptoms of a seizure in 2013. She recovered at home after the treatment given in the hospital.
Facts about Teresa Heinz
- She speaks 5 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian.
- As a child, she loved to play piano and climb trees. She said that she had broken her waist several times doing so.
- She is a cancer survivor.
