John Mara
|
John Mara (back left) Tom Coughlin (foreground) & Steve Tisch (back right) at the Giants' visit to the White House after their Super Bowl XLII victory. | |
| New York Giants | |
|---|---|
| Position: | Principal owner |
| Personal information | |
| Date of birth: | December 1, 1954 |
| Place of birth: | New York, New York |
| Career information | |
| College: | Boston College, Fordham |
| Career history | |
| As executive: | |
| |
| Career highlights and awards | |
John Kevin Mara[1] /ˈmɛərə/ MAIR-ə[2] (born December 1, 1954) is the president, CEO, and co-owner of the New York Giants.
Early life
Mara was born in New York City and grew up in White Plains, a nearby suburb. He is the eldest son of Ann Mara (née Mumm) and Giants owner Wellington Mara.[1][3] His ancestry includes Irish, German, and French-Canadian. He attended Iona Preparatory School in nearby New Rochelle, graduating in 1972. He earned a B.S. cum laude in marketing from Boston College in 1976, followed by a law degree in 1979 from Fordham University. After his graduation from Fordham, Mara was an attorney at Vedder, Price, Kaufman, Kammholz and Day, specializing in labor and employment law and litigation. Two years later, he joined Shea & Gould, where he remained until joining the Giants organization.[3]
New York Giants
Mara joined the Giants in 1991, serving as General Counsel and later as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer until his father's death in 2005, when he assumed the team's presidency.[3] Under John Mara and Steve Tisch, the Giants have won Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XLVI.
Additional work in NFL
Mara has served for 15 years on the NFL Competition Committee, which suggests rule and policy changes to all NFL teams. He is the current chairman of the NFL Management Council Executive Committee.[3][4] Mara, alongside Steve Tisch and Woody Johnson, brought Super Bowl XLVIII to MetLife Stadium in February 2014.[3]
Personal life
Mara is the third generation of his family to own the Giants. His grandfather, Tim, founded the team in 1925. Tim's sons, Wellington and Jack (John Mara's uncle), inherited the team in 1959, when Tim Mara died. Among NFL franchises, only the Chicago Bears (controlled by the Halas-McCaskey family since 1921) have been in the hands of one family longer than the Giants.
He and his wife, Denise W. Mara, have one son, John Jr., and four daughters, Lauren, Courtney, Christine, and Erin.[5][6][7][8] He is also an uncle to film actresses Rooney Mara (an Academy Award nominee) and Kate Mara (an Emmy Award nominee). Mara serves on the Board of Directors of Saint Vincent’s Hospital in Harrison, N.Y. and Boys Hope Girls Hope of New York.[3]
References
- 1 2 Goldstein, Richard (25 October 2005). "Wellington Mara, Co-Owner of New York Giants, Is Dead at 89". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 9, 2014.
- ↑ John Mara (11 August 2014). Giants John Mara accepts Ice Bucket Challenge. NFL. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 John K. Mara, Esq., Official Site of the New York Giants, accessed February 9, 2016
- ↑ "John Mara talks rule changes and concussions". www.giants.com. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
- ↑ "Examining the Mara family tree as the NY Giants seek their fourth Super Bowl against Patriots". Daily News. New York. 3 February 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
- ↑ "John Mara Jr. chooses theater career over working for Giants". Newsday. 6 November 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
- ↑ "Christine Mara, Christopher Ward". New York Times. 22 July 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
- ↑ "Sister Joan Magnetti, Giants linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka, and members of the Mara family" (PDF). king street chronicle. February 2008. Retrieved 9 February 2016.