Kraft, Robert
From Astro-Databank
| Name |
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| born on | 5 June 1941 at 19:14 (= 7:14 PM ) | ||
| Place | Brookline MA, USA, 42n19, 71w07 | ||
| Timezone | EDT h4w (is daylight saving time) | ||
| Data source |
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| Astrology data |   14°52'   25°06 Asc. 03°10'
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Biography
American entrepreneur; chairman and owner of the New England Patriots football team. On 2/03/2002, when the Patriots won their first and long-coveted Super Bowl Lombardi Trophy, TV news cameras caught the usually cool Kraft dancing wildly in the celebratory parade. He followed the victory with another first; building a new stadium within the year by investing $325 million of his private funds. Kraft had been a long-time season-ticket owner and respected businessman when, in 1988, he purchased the team's Foxboro Stadium that had fallen into bankruptcy. In 1994 he faced a difficult business decision: he could purchase the team by deploying nearly $200 million of family resources or accept a $75 million buyout offer to void the stadium's lease and allow the team to move out of New England. On 1/21/1994, he presented an 11th hour bid to buy the team for the highest purchase price in NFL history. The sale was effective on 2/25/1994, and Kraft's promise for a championship was delivered to exuberant fans in 2002. With his vision, excellent business skills, and influence,
Kraft has negotiated one of the most lucrative broadcast contracts in sports history and helped create a new model for the sports license apparel industry.
Kraft graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in 1963 and earned a master's degree in business administration from Harvard in 1965. He began his business career with the Rand-Whitney Group, Inc. of Worcester, MA and later acquired the company. In 1972, he founded International Forest Products, which, along with the Rand-Whitney Group, comprises one of the largest privately owned paper and packaging companies in the U.S. In 1998, he founded the Kraft Group, which acts as a holding company for all of Kraft's portfolio companies and investments.
A philanthropist, Kraft has donated millions of dollars to charities and civic affairs. In addition to his leadership of the Kraft Group, he serves on the Executive Committee of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and established the Robert K. Kraft Family Blood Donor Center; he also sits on
several boards including the Board of Overseers of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and is a trustee of his alma mater at Columbia University. He and his wife Myra have four children.
Events
- Social : End a program of study 1963 (BA degree from Columbia University)
- Social : End a program of study 1965 (Masters Degree from Harvard)
- Work : Start Business 1972 (Founded the International Forest Products)
- Financial : Buy/Sell Property 1988 (Purchased Foxboro Stadium)
- Financial : Investments 21 January 1994 (Purchased the New England Patriots football team)
- Financial : Lose significant money 25 February 1994 (Sale finalized)
- Work : Start Business 1998 (Started the Kraft Group, investments and holdings firm)
- Social : Great Publicity 3 February 2002 (Football team wins the Super Bowl)
- Work : Prize 3 February 2002 (Lombardi Trophy)
Source Notes
Pat Taglilatelo quotes B.C. Jan 2003
Categories
- Family : Parenting : Kids more than 3 (Four)
- Notable : Extraordinary Talents : For Meritorious achievement
- Traits : Personality : Ambitious
- Traits : Personality : Hard worker
- Vocation : Business : Entrepreneur (Multiple business holdings)
- Vocation : Business : Top executive (CEO, chairman and founder)
- Lifestyle : Financial : Philanthropist (Charitable organizations)
- Lifestyle : Financial : Wealthy (Extreme)
- Lifestyle : Work : Skills - Multi-faceted
- Vocation : Sports Business : Coach/ Manager/ Owner (Owner, New England Patriots)
- Notable : Awards : Sports Championship (Super Bowl)
- Notable : Awards : Vocational award (Lombardi Trophy)
