Cameron Kerry - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

The fourth child of U.S. diplomat Richard J. Kerry and his wife, Rosemary Winthrop Forbes, Cameron Kerry graduated from Harvard University in 1972, and Boston College Law School in 1978. Cameron Kerry was an associate with Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in Washington, D.C. and served as law clerk to U.S. Senior Circuit Judge Elbert Tuttle, former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (now the Eleventh Circuit). He has been an Adjunct Professor of Telecommunications Law at Suffolk University Law School and has written on First Amendment and cable television issues. From 1983 to 2008, he worked as a Partner at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo, focusing on civil litigation, environmental issues, and communications regulation.

In 2004, Cameron Kerry served as an influential advisor in his brother’s presidential campaign. Kerry played a role in decisions behind the scenes and as a campaign surrogate.

In 1983, Cameron Kerry converted to Judaism before marrying Kathy Weinman.

During his brother's 2004 presidential campaign, it emerged that their grandfather, Fritz Kohn, was a Jewish immigrant from what is today the Czech Republic who had changed his name to Frederick Kerry and converted to Roman Catholicism. Cameron Kerry traveled across the country speaking to his brother’s views on Israel, campaigning with Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, writer-comedian Larry David, and other Jewish elected officials.

In 2006, Cameron Kerry explored a run for Massachusetts Secretary of State deciding not to run when the Democratic incumbent, William F. Galvin, announced that he would seek reelection.

During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Cameron Kerry was the Vice-Chair of the National Jewish Democratic Council and defended Barack Obama in the Jewish press.