Mary Pat Christie

Mary Pat Christie (née Foster; born September 15, 1963) is an American investment banker and wife of former New Jersey Governor and 2016 presidential candidate Chris Christie.

Mary Pat Christie
First Lady of New Jersey
In role
January 19, 2010 – January 16, 2018
GovernorChris Christie
Preceded byMary Jo Codey (2006)
Succeeded byTammy Murphy
Personal details
Born
Mary Pat Foster

(1963-09-15) September 15, 1963
Paoli, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 1986)​
Children4
Alma materUniversity of Delaware (BA)
Seton Hall University (MBA)

Early life and education

Christie was born to an Irish Catholic family in the Philadelphia suburb of Paoli, Pennsylvania, the ninth of 10 children.[1][2][3] She was Class President of the University of Delaware Class of 1985 (her husband was President of the Class of 1984).[4] Christie earned her MBA at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.[5]

Marriage

The Christies, both then recent graduates of the University of Delaware, were married in 1986. As newlyweds, they shared a studio apartment in Summit, New Jersey.[6] She and her husband have 4 children: Andrew (b. 1993), Sarah (b. 1996), Patrick (b. 2000) and Bridget (b. 2003).[7] The family resides in Mendham Township.[8][9]

Governor Christie has cited his wife's success as a bond trader as enabling him to have a relatively low-paid political career.[10][11] When a colleague teased him about this, the Governor responded, "Listen, I just have three words for you: joint checking account. That money all lands in the same place, baby. It's fine by me".[10]

Mary Pat insisted that the family not move to the New Jersey Governor's Mansion in Princeton, New Jersey, so that the children would not have to change schools.[10]

Career

Mary Pat Christie pursued a career in investment banking, eventually working at a Wall Street investment firm located two blocks from the site of the September 11 attacks.[12] On that date, she lost cell phone reception and was unable to contact her family. Governor Christie has spoken about how long those hours were that day. He was dealing with a disaster that struck an enormous number of New Jersey and New York families, all while having no contact with Mary Pat. He remembers thinking, "What am I going to do without my best friend?", "What kind of single dad am I going to be?"[13]

Four hours passed before she was able to cross the Hudson River to New Jersey on a ferry, and someone was able to contact her husband.[14] When Chris came to the ferry landing, he found his wife soaking wet and wrapped in a blanket, having been drenched with water sprayed from a fire hose along with other survivors, to prevent contaminated debris from reaching New Jersey.[15][1]

She became a managing director at the Wall Street investment firm Angelo, Gordon & Co..[16][17] Mary Pat has been the family's primary breadwinner, earning $500,000 of the couple's total income of $700,000 in 2014.[18] She left her position with Angelo, Gordon & Co. in April 2015, stating that she wanted to spend more time with her family.[19]

Civic activity

When Hurricane Sandy devastated communities along the Jersey Shore in 2012, Mary Pat took a three-month leave from her job to set up and run the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund.[18] Mary Pat heads the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund, the Drumthwacket Foundation and New Jersey Heroes.[20]

She used her fundraising prowess again to assist Christie's campaign for President.[21]

Presidential campaign

Mary Pat accompanied the Governor as he campaigned in 2015.[3] When he had to return to New Jersey in January 2016 because as the blizzard of 2016 bore down on his state, Mary Pat stayed in New Hampshire and substituted for the Governor at scheduled campaign stops.[22][23]

References
  1. Frumin, Aliyah (December 2, 2015). "7 things to know about Mary Pat Christie". MSNBC. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  2. Margolin, Josh (January 2, 2010). "Mary Pat Christie readies for role as state's first lady". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  3. Davis, Linsey (1 February 2016). "Chris Christie's Wife Mary Pat Christie: The Wall Street Wife Turned Campaign Fundraiser Extraordinaire". ABC News. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  4. Rosenberg, Amy (April 17, 2011). "Mary Pat Christie, 'simpatico' in political and family affairs". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  5. "First Lady Mary Pat Christie". nj.gov. State of New Jersey. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
  6. "Transcript: Gov. Chris Christie's Convention Speech". NPR. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  7. Margolin, Josh (January 3, 2010). "Mary Pat Christie readies for role as state's first lady". NJ.com. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
  8. "Governor Christie". State of New Jersey. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  9. Rogers, Alison (January 20, 2012). "Anybody Home? Governor's Mansions Around the U.S. Sit Empty: New Jersey". Time. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  10. Young, Elise (March 21, 2013). "Mary Pat Christie Juggles Roles as Political Facilitator". Bloomberg. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  11. Gross, Daniel (14 January 2016). "For Ted Cruz and Chris Christie, Their Wives Are Their 'Secret Weapon'". Fortune. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  12. Martin, John P. (May 23, 2009). "Christie: A need to lead, honed by family and success". The Star-Ledger.
  13. Megerian, Chris (20 January 2016). "Chris Christie, stumping for votes in Iowa". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  14. O'Brien, Kathleen (August 31, 2011). "Gov. Chris Christie's family recalls tragic day during September 11 memorial visit". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  15. Aschbrenner, Joel (December 4, 2015). "Christie calls out Cruz, Paul on surveillance". Des Moines Register. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  16. Moyer, Liz (4 January 2016). "John Angelo, Investor and Co-Founder of Angelo Gordon, Dies at 74". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  17. Laughlin, Alex. "Meet the Spouses of the 2016 Presidential Contenders",National Journal, April 13, 2015.
  18. Frumin, Aliyah (April 28, 2015). "Christie explains why his wife just left Wall Street". MSNBC. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  19. Dawsey, Josh (24 April 2016). "Gov. Chris Christie's Wife Has Left Her Wall Street Job". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  20. Alfaro, Alyana (3 September 2015). "The 30 Most Influential Women In N.J. Politics, Elected and Nonelected". PoolitikerNJ. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  21. Haddon, Heather (15 August 2015). "U.S. News: Wall Street Wives Lend a Hand to GOP's Cruz and Christie". The Wall Street Journal.
  22. Phelps, Jordyn (23 January 2016). "Chris Christie's Wife Takes Reins of Campaign With Governor in New Jersey". ABC News. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  23. Hanna, Maddie (24 January 2016). "With governor back in N.J., Mary Pat Christie fills in for him in N.H." The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
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