Jenny Sanford
Encyclopedia
Jennifer Sullivan Sanford (b. 11 September 1962) is the former First Lady
of South Carolina
, heiress, and former investment banker.
She was married to Governor
Mark Sanford
, whose initial campaigns she substantially funded. On December 11, 2009, she announced that she was filing for divorce, after it became known that Governor Sanford had flown to Argentina
to have an affair with Maria Belen Chapur
, a 43-year old divorced mother from Buenos Aires
. The divorce decree was granted on February 26, 2010. The couple's divorce was finalized on March 19, 2010.
, an upscale suburb of Chicago. She is the second of five children born to an Irish Catholic
family. Sanford's family was prominent in the area. Her great-grandfather, Joseph W. Sullivan, co-founded Skil Corporation which manufactured the first portable electric saw. Her uncle and another grandfather, both lawyers, headed the Winston and Strawn law firm
. Sanford also has familial ties to Rushton Skakel, the brother of Ethel Kennedy.
Sanford attended Woodlands Academy, an all-girls Catholic school
in Lake Forest
, Illinois
. She graduated magna cum laude, earning her bachelor's degree
from Georgetown University
in 1984.
From 1984 until 1990, she worked at Lazard Freres & Company
, an investment bank based in New York City
, eventually becoming a vice president
in the firm's mergers and acquisitions
group. It was while she was working at Lazard that she met her future husband, Mark Sanford
, at a beach party in the Hamptons
on Long Island
. She later talked about the meeting in an interview with The Post and Courier
, "It wasn’t exactly love at first sight. It was more like friendship at first sight."
The couple married 1989, and eventually had four sons, Marshall, Landon, Bolton, and Blake.
It was not until the couple's second son was born that Mark Sanford announced he would enter politics. She would later tell the The Greenville News
, "It was quite a surprise to me. When he told me, I was in the hospital, and we had just delivered our second son. So we had a 15-month-old and a newborn, and he says to me, ‘I’m going to run for Congress.’"
In 1994, she managed
her husband's successful campaign for the United States House of Representatives
, as well as his successful gubernatorial campaign in 2002.
Sanford also acted as her husband's advisor while he was in Congress. According to the Governor's website, she assisted him daily during his first term as Governor, and co-managed his successful re-election campaign in 2006. In 2005, she launched the Healthy South Carolina Challenge, an initiative to reduce the incidence of chronic preventable disease. She serves on the boards of several non-profits, including the Hollings Cancer Center, the Drayton Hall historical property in Charleston
, the Coastal Community Foundation and the Children’s Hospital Advisory Fund.
On June 24, 2009, after having been absent from South Carolina for several days, her husband admitted to an affair with a woman from Argentina
identified in multiple press reports as María Belén Chapur. Sanford learned of her husband's infidelity in January 2009, before the scandal broke. Following her husband's public disclosure of the affair, she issued a statement indicating that the couple had had agreed to a trial separation
two weeks prior to his public confession.
On August 7, 2009, she moved out of the South Carolina Governor's Mansion
with the couple's four sons and returned to the family home on Sullivan's Island. On December 11, she announced that she was filing for divorce.
First Lady
First Lady or First Gentlemanis the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state.It is not normally used to refer to the spouse or partner of a prime minister; the husband or wife of the British Prime Minister is usually informally referred to as prime...
of South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, heiress, and former investment banker.
She was married to Governor
Governor of South Carolina
The Governor of the State of South Carolina is the head of state for the State of South Carolina. Under the South Carolina Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the South Carolina executive branch. The Governor is the ex officio...
Mark Sanford
Mark Sanford
Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford Jr. is an American politician from South Carolina, who was the 115th Governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011....
, whose initial campaigns she substantially funded. On December 11, 2009, she announced that she was filing for divorce, after it became known that Governor Sanford had flown to Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
to have an affair with Maria Belen Chapur
Mark Sanford disappearance and extramarital affair
For six days in June 2009, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's whereabouts were unknown and there was media coverage of what was described as his disappearance. Subsequently the Governor reappeared and reported that he had been in Argentina with a woman with whom he was having an extramarital...
, a 43-year old divorced mother from Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
. The divorce decree was granted on February 26, 2010. The couple's divorce was finalized on March 19, 2010.
Biography
Sanford was born and raised in Winnetka, IllinoisWinnetka, Illinois
Winnetka is an affluent North Shore village located approximately north of downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois. Winnetka was featured on the list of America's 25 top-earning towns and "one of the best places to live" by CNN Money in 2011...
, an upscale suburb of Chicago. She is the second of five children born to an Irish Catholic
Irish Catholic
Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...
family. Sanford's family was prominent in the area. Her great-grandfather, Joseph W. Sullivan, co-founded Skil Corporation which manufactured the first portable electric saw. Her uncle and another grandfather, both lawyers, headed the Winston and Strawn law firm
Law firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...
. Sanford also has familial ties to Rushton Skakel, the brother of Ethel Kennedy.
Sanford attended Woodlands Academy, an all-girls Catholic school
Catholic school
Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
in Lake Forest
Lake Forest, Illinois
Lake Forest is an affluent city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The city is south of Waukegan along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore. Lake Forest was founded around Lake Forest College and was laid out as a town in...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. She graduated magna cum laude, earning her bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
from Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
in 1984.
From 1984 until 1990, she worked at Lazard Freres & Company
Lazard
Lazard Ltd is the parent company of Lazard Group LLC, a global, independent investment bank with approximately 2,300 employees in 42 cities across 27 countries throughout Europe, North America, Asia, Australia, Central and South America...
, an investment bank based in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, eventually becoming a vice president
Vice president
A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
in the firm's mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...
group. It was while she was working at Lazard that she met her future husband, Mark Sanford
Mark Sanford
Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford Jr. is an American politician from South Carolina, who was the 115th Governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011....
, at a beach party in the Hamptons
Hamptons
The Hamptons may refer to several villages and hamlets in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on the far east end of Suffolk County in Long Island, New York. These townships occupy the South Fork of Long Island, stretching into the Atlantic Ocean. The Hamptons form a popular seaside resort,...
on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
. She later talked about the meeting in an interview with The Post and Courier
The Post and Courier
Charleston's The Post and Courier is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the South and the eighth oldest newspaper still in publication in the United States. It is published in Charleston, South Carolina. It traces its ancestry to three newspapers, the Charleston Courier, founded in 1803, the...
, "It wasn’t exactly love at first sight. It was more like friendship at first sight."
The couple married 1989, and eventually had four sons, Marshall, Landon, Bolton, and Blake.
It was not until the couple's second son was born that Mark Sanford announced he would enter politics. She would later tell the The Greenville News
The Greenville News
The Greenville News is a daily morning newspaper published in Greenville, South Carolina. Along with The State in Columbia and Charleston's Post and Courier, it is one of the three largest papers in South Carolina.-History:...
, "It was quite a surprise to me. When he told me, I was in the hospital, and we had just delivered our second son. So we had a 15-month-old and a newborn, and he says to me, ‘I’m going to run for Congress.’"
In 1994, she managed
Campaign manager
A campaign manager is a paid or volunteer individual, whose role is to coordinate the campaign's operations such as fundraising, advertising, polling, getting out the vote , and other activities supporting the effort, directly.Apart from the candidate, they are often a campaign's most visible leader...
her husband's successful campaign for the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
, as well as his successful gubernatorial campaign in 2002.
Sanford also acted as her husband's advisor while he was in Congress. According to the Governor's website, she assisted him daily during his first term as Governor, and co-managed his successful re-election campaign in 2006. In 2005, she launched the Healthy South Carolina Challenge, an initiative to reduce the incidence of chronic preventable disease. She serves on the boards of several non-profits, including the Hollings Cancer Center, the Drayton Hall historical property in Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, the Coastal Community Foundation and the Children’s Hospital Advisory Fund.
On June 24, 2009, after having been absent from South Carolina for several days, her husband admitted to an affair with a woman from Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
identified in multiple press reports as María Belén Chapur. Sanford learned of her husband's infidelity in January 2009, before the scandal broke. Following her husband's public disclosure of the affair, she issued a statement indicating that the couple had had agreed to a trial separation
Trial separation
A trial separation is an informal splitting of a couple. Unlike legal separation, this is purely a personal arrangement and does not require legal proceedings...
two weeks prior to his public confession.
On August 7, 2009, she moved out of the South Carolina Governor's Mansion
South Carolina Governor's Mansion
The South Carolina Governor's Mansion is a historic U.S. governor's mansion in the Arsenal Hill neighborhood of Columbia, South Carolina and the official residence of the Governor of South Carolina. It is a Federal style home influenced by British Colonial plantations...
with the couple's four sons and returned to the family home on Sullivan's Island. On December 11, she announced that she was filing for divorce.
Memoirs
Jenny Sanford released her book, Staying True, on February 5, 2010. She details her experience of her husband's affair and the effect it had on her own life.External links
- "Staying True" by Jenny Sanford
- Jenny Sanford talks about "Staying True" on Larry King Live (08-Feb-2010)
- Coastal Community Foundation of SC website: http://www.coastalcommunityfoundation.org