A Change Of Heart

Colonel Jennifer Pritzker, heir to one of America’s largest fortunes and the world’s first openly transgender billionaire, spent most of her life supporting the GOP. She even voted for Trump. But the president’s hostile policies have made her shut her pocketbook and start speaking out

- James Reginato

In 1881, Naphtali ben Yakov Pritzker arrived in Chicago, a 10-year-old penniless Jewish immigrant from Ukraine. Nicholas, as he later was known, taught himself English, worked his way through law school, and opened a law firm, which thrived. Today, his descendants rank as America’s seventh-richest family, with a $29 billion fortune derived from investments, a conglomeration of nuts-and-bolts manufacturing businesses, and Hyatt Hotels.

Several Pritzkers are currently wellknown. Jay Robert (known as J.B.) became governor of Illinois in January, and his sister, Penny, served as commerce secretary in the Obama White House. But the family has always closely guarded their privacy.

Thus, there was some surprise in Chicago nine years ago when the Naphtali ben Yakov Pritzker American History Wing was inaugurated at the venerable Chicago History Museum. In addition to its lead show, Facing Freedom in America, the wing featured a permanent Pritzker family history exhibition, which included a family tree. Here, one could scroll down and see the name of James Nicholas Pritzker—a great-grandchild of Naphtali and the lead benefactor of the new wing—annotated by birth (1950), marriages (two), children (three), and career (colonel, Illinois National Guard; lieutenant colonel, U.S. Army, retired; Cold War era, Vietnam era, Antarctica, U.S. Army; U.S. Army Reserve, Illinois Army National Guard, 1974–2001).