Richard Blumenthal Bio, Net Worth, Education, Wife, Family and Vietnam War

Quick Facts

Richard Blumenthal is a veteran American politician and current United States Senator from Connecticut. Blumenthal is also an attorney, a graduate of the prestigious Yale law school. From 1991 to 2011, he served as Attorney General of Connecticut. He is a democrat and has been the state’s senior senator since 2013. He is also known as the second wealthiest member of the US Senate.

Richard Blumenthal’s Bio

On the 13th of February 1946, Richard Blumenthal was born in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Jane and Martin Blumenthal. Blumenthal’s father was a Jew who was the president of a commodities trading firm. He had immigrated, alone at age 17 from Frankfurt, Germany to the United States.

Richard attended a private school in the Bronx, Riverdale Country School. He graduated from Harvard College and after that, went to England and studied at the Trinity College, Cambridge for a year. Then he went to Yale law school, where he was the Editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. While he attended Yale Law School, he was classmates with and . Blumenthal has a brother named David Blumenthal, who serves as the President of the Commonwealth Fund.

After college, Blumenthal became an administrative assistant and law clerk for many Washington, D.C. figures. Blumenthal served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve from 1970 to 1976, where he rose to the rank of sergeant. He became the United States attorney for the district of Connecticut from 1977 to 1981. Later on, in the early 1980s, he worked in a private law practice. He later served in the Connecticut House of Representatives, from 1985-1987. In 1990, he was elected Attorney General of Connecticut and served for twenty years.

After incumbent Democratic Senator Chris Dodd announced his retirement in 2010, Blumenthal announced his decision to run for U.S. Senate. Blumenthal and professional wrestling magnate, Linda McMahon ran for office in the 2010 elections. He won by a 12-point margin with 55 percent of the vote. He was sworn in on January 5, 2011.

He took seats on the Senate Armed Services; Judiciary; Aging; and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees. After the retirement of Joe Lieberman in 2013, he became Connecticut’s senior senator. In 2016, he became the first person to achieve more than one million votes in a statewide election in Connecticut after winning the re-election with 63.2% of the vote.

Net Worth

Richard Blumenthal who is ranked second wealthiest member of the Senate had an estimated net worth of $81,745,158 in 2015. His real estate portfolio accounts for $18 million of his assets. Senator Blumenthal has approximately $6.8 million mostly domiciled with JP Morgan Chase.

Education

Blumenthal attended Riverdale Country School in the Riverdale section of Bronx. After high school, he went to Harvard College where he graduated with an A.B. degree magna cum laude. In Harvard, Blumenthal was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. While there, he became the editorial chairman of The Harvard Crimson.

Blumenthal was selected for a Fiske Fellowship that allowed him to study at the University of Cambridge in England for one year after graduation from Harvard College. After his year in England, he went to Yale law school where he served as the editor-in-chief of the Yale law journal. He worked alongside future united states Secretary of Labor Robert Reich who was one of his co-editors.

Wife

Blumenthal’s wife, Cynthia Malkin is the daughter of a wealthy real estate investor, Peter Malkin. He is the chairman emeritus of Empire State Realty Trust, which owns a large number of buildings across New York City, including the Empire State Building. Anthony Malkin (Cynthia’s brother) became the President and CEO of Empire State Realty Trust in 2013.

He met his wife when he was 31 and she was just 16 at a party in Greenwich. They would meet again years later at Cynthia’s cousin’s wedding when she had just begun attending Harvard University. They became engaged in her senior year and in 1982, a year later they got married after she graduated. She was 21 and he was 36.

Family

Richard Blumenthal has been married to Cynthia Blumenthal (nee Malkin) for over 30 years. They have four children: Claire, Matthew, David, and Michael Blumenthal. His parents were Martin Blumenthal and Jane Blumenthal (nee Rosenstock) and his brother David Blumenthal; President of the Commonwealth Fund.

Matthew Blumenthal, Richard’s eldest son is running for State Representative for Connecticut’s 147th district. Matthew is a graduate of Harvard University and Yale Law School and joined the Marine Corps Reserve, just like his father. He led a rifle platoon in Afghanistan in 2011. David Blumenthal, Richard’s second son studies at Georgetown law.

Richard’s brother, David Blumenthal is an Academic Physician and Healthcare Policy Expert. He once served as a professional staff member to the US Senate committee on human resources, health and scientific research subcommittee in the late 1970s. In 1991,  he became the chief of the health policy research and development unit at Massachusetts general hospital in 1991.

Vietnam War

During the Vietnam War, Blumenthal received five draft deferments. The first being an educational deferment and the others were based on his occupation. In April 1970, Blumenthal enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, which is generally regarded as an alternative for those wishing to avoid service in Vietnam.

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From 1970 to 1976, He served in units in Washington D.C. and Connecticut, where he earned the rank of sergeant. During the 2010 senate campaign, there were reports that Blumenthal claimed to have fought in the Vietnam War, which caused a bit of an uproar. Blumenthal denied intentionally misleading voters into believing that he fought in the war when he only meant that he served during the war.

He admitted to sometimes being very vague about his service record, which caused people to believe that he fought in the war. He apologized for being unclear when speaking about his military service.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.