Mary Pat Christie

Mary Pat Christie
File:Mary Pat Christie.jpg Christie in 2016
First Lady of New Jersey
Incumbent
Assumed office January 19, 2010
Governor	Chris Christie
Preceded by	Position Vacant (2006–2010)
Personal details
Born	Mary Pat Foster (1963-09-15) September 15, 1963 Paoli, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Chris Christie (1986–present)
Alma mater	University of Delaware, Newark Seton Hall University

Mary Pat Foster Christie (born September 15, 1963) is an American investment banker and, as the wife of Governor and former presidential candidate Chris Christie, is First Lady of New Jersey.

Early life and education

Christie was born to an Irish Catholic family in the Philadelphia suburb of Paoli, Pennsylvania, the ninth of 10 children. She was Class President of the University of Delaware Class of 1985 (her husband was President of the Class of 1984.) Christie earned her MBA at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.

Marriage

The Christies, then fellow students at the University of Delaware, were married in 1986. As newlyweds, they shared a studio apartment in Summit, New Jersey. She and her husband have four children – two boys: Andrew (b. 1993) and Patrick (b. 2000), and two girls: Sarah (b. 1996) and Bridget (b. 2003). The family resides in Mendham Township.

Governor Christie has cited his wife's success as a bond trader as enabling him to have a relatively low-paid political career. When a colleague teased him about this, the Governor responded, "Listen, I just have three words for you: joint checking account. That money all lands in the same place, baby. It's fine by me".

Mary Pat insisted that the family not move to the New Jersey Governor's Mansion in Princeton, New Jersey, so that the children would not have to change schools.

Career

Mary Pat Christie pursued a career in investment banking, eventually working at a Wall Street investment firm located two blocks from the site of the September 11 attacks. On that date, she lost cell phone reception and was unable to contact her family. Governor Christie has spoken about how long those hours were that day. He was dealing with a disaster that struck an enormous number of New Jersey and New York families, all while having no contact with Mary Pat. He remembers thinking, "What am I going to do without my best friend?", "What kind of single dad am I going to be?"

Four hours passed before she was able to cross the Hudson River to New Jersey on a ferry, and someone was able to contact her husband. When Chris came to the ferry landing, he found his wife soaking wet and wrapped in a blanket, having been drenched with a water sprayed by a fire hose along with other survivors, to prevent contaminated debris from reaching New Jersey.

She became a managing director at the Wall Street investment firm Angelo, Gordon & Co.. Mary Pat has been the family's primary breadwinner, earning $500,000 of the couple's total income of $700,000 in 2014. She left her position with Angelo, Gordon & Co. in April 2015, stating that she wanted to spend more time with her family.

Civic activity

When Hurricane Sandy devastated communities along the Jersey Shore in 2012, Christie took a three-month leave from her job to set up and run the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund. Christie heads the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund, the Drumthwacket Foundation and New Jersey Heroes.

She used her fundraising prowess again to assist Christie's campaign for President.

Presidential campaign

Mary Pat accompanied the Governor as he campaigned in 2015. When he had to return to New Jersey in January 2016 because as the Blizzard of 2016 bore down on his state, Mary Pat stayed in New Hampshire and substituted for the Governor at scheduled campaign stops.

Audio

• ABC News interview with Mary Pat campaigning in New Hampshire
• Chris Christie's Wife Mary Pat Christie: 'This is a Team Sport Running for President' ABC-TV feature story

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN

• Laughlin, Alex. "Meet the Spouses of the 2016 Presidential Contenders",National Journal, April 13, 2015.