Al Franken - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Franken was born in New York City to his mother, Phoebe G. (née Kunst), a homemaker and real estate agent, and his father, Joseph P. Franken, a printing salesman. The family first moved to Albert Lea, Minnesota in 1955, when he was four, then to St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a suburb near Minneapolis. Franken had a Jewish upbringing. His paternal grandparents were immigrants from Germany, and his mother's family was from Russia. His older brother Owen is a photojournalist, and MSNBC's Bob Franken is his cousin. Franken graduated in 1969 from The Blake School; while there was on the wrestling team. He attended Harvard College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts cum laude in 1973 in political science.

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