Early Life, Education, and Family
Whitman was born in New York City and grew up in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, the daughter of Eleanor Prentice Todd (née Schley) and Webster B. Todd, both interested in New Jersey Republican politics. She attended Far Hills Country Day School and the Chapin School in Manhattan. She graduated from Wheaton College in 1968, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in government. After graduating, she worked on Nelson Rockefeller's presidential campaign.
Whitman is a descendant of two New Jersey political families, the Todds and the Schleys, and related by marriage to New York's politically active Whitmans. She is married to John R. Whitman, a private equity investor. They have two children. She is the granddaughter-in-law of former Governor of New York Charles S. Whitman. Her maternal grandfather, Reeve Schley, was a member of Wolf's Head Society at Yale and the vice president of Chase Bank when it indeed had only one vice president. He was also a longtime president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce.
Whitman's daughter Kate has followed her mother into politics. Most recently, Kate Whitman ran for the 2008 Republican nomination for New Jersey's 7th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, placing second in a primary field of seven candidates with about 20 percent of the vote. Previously, Kate Whitman served as press secretary for Craig Benson’s 2002 gubernatorial campaign in New Hampshire, and later, communications director for the New Hampshire Republican State Committee. She also was a Congressional aide and in 2007, she was named executive director of the Republican Leadership Council, her mother's organization which promotes moderate Republicanism. Kate Whitman made news in 1998 at the age of 21, while her mother was governor, when she was cited by police in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for littering.
Whitman also has a Scottish Terrier named Coors, who is the mother of former president Bush's dog Barney.
Whitman has been a resident of Tewksbury Township, New Jersey.
Read more about this topic: Christine Todd Whitman
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