Mr Robert Kraft
Robert Kenneth Kraft (born June 5, 1941) is an American businessman. He is the Chairman and CEO of the Kraft Group, a diversified holding company with assets in manufacturing, distribution, sports and event management, construction, private equity, venture investing, sustainability and philanthropy. He is the owner of the National Football League's New England Patriots, Major League Soccer's New England Revolution, and Gillette Stadium.
| Mr Robert Kraft | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Robert Kenneth Kraft 1941/06/05 Brookline, Massachusetts |
| 🏫 Education | Columbia (BA), Harvard (MBA) |
| 💼 Occupation | Owner of New England Patriots in Boston, Massachusetts |
| 📆 Years active | 1994-Present |
| Known for | American Businessman |
| 🏛️ Political party | Democratic |
| 🌐 Website | https://www.thekraftgroup.com/robert-kraft/ |
Early Life[edit]
Kraft was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of Sarah Bryna (Webber) and Harry Kraft, the Krafts were a Modern Orthodox Jewish family. Robert attended the Edward Devotion School and graduated from Brookline High School in 1959, where he was senior class president. During high school, he was unable to participate in most sports because it interfered with his after-school Hebrew studies and observance of the Sabbath.
Kraft attended Columbia University on an academic scholarship and he served as class president. He played tennis and safety on the school's freshman and lightweight football teams. He met Myra Hiatt at a delicatessen in Boston's Back Bay in 1962, and they married in June 1963. He graduated from Columbia that same year, and he received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1965.
Career[edit]
Kraft’s father ran a small business in the clothing trade. After the younger Kraft earned a bachelor’s degree (1963) at Columbia University and an M.B.A. (1965) at Harvard Business School, he went to work at Rand-Whitney, a manufacturer of paper packaging that was controlled by his father-in-law, Jacob Hiatt. Kraft bought out half of Hiatt’s interest in 1968 and in 1972, understanding the importance forest products would play in the developing global economy, founded International Forest Products (IFP) to trade in wood, pulp, and paper products. He created the Kraft Group in 1998 as a holding company for Rand-Whitney, International Forest Products, and his family’s other business interests, most notably in the field of sports. Robert’s underlying values of relationship building, coupled with the highest level of integrity, are the foundation of the Kraft Group’s success, regardless of the field or scope. Robert has built the Kraft Group on these values through hard work and an entrepreneurial spirit.
Kraft’s first sports-related venture was the Boston Lobsters, a team in the World Team Tennis (WTT) league. He bought the Lobsters with several partners in 1975, but the tennis team folded in 1978, when the original WTT disbanded. In 1985 he leased, with an option to buy, a large tract of land in suburban Foxborough, Massachusetts, that surrounded Sullivan Stadium (later Foxboro Stadium), the home of the New England Patriots. In 1988, together with a partner whose interest he later bought out, he purchased the stadium. He finally acquired the team in January 1994, paying $172 million, the highest price for an NFL team up to that time.
The Patriots improved dramatically in the 1994 season, qualifying for the playoffs for the first time in eight years. Two years later the team played in the Super Bowl for only the second time in its history. In 2000, Kraft hired Bill Belichick as head coach, and the move helped transform the Patriots into one of the NFL’s dominant teams, winning six Super Bowls (2002, 2004, 2005, 2015, 2017, and 2019). With team revenues increasing, Kraft was encouraged to replace Foxboro Stadium with Gillette Stadium, which he built on an adjoining site in 2002. Most NFL stadium construction was heavily subsidized by the government, but Kraft built Gillette Stadium with 83 percent private funding. He later developed Patriot Place, a hotel, retail, dining, and entertainment complex adjacent to the new stadium. In 1996 Kraft and his family also founded the New England Revolution, which played in the Major League Soccer league.
Philanthropy[edit]
In the community, Robert and his family are one of the leading philanthropic families in the world, supporting various charities, nonprofits and causes, including education, child and women issues, healthcare, youth sports and American and Israeli programs. Robert is a Trustee Emeritus of Columbia University, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and is a trustee of Boston College, Carnegie Hall and the Apollo Theater among others. He is also a retired member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
