Robert Kraft

Kraft was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of Sarah Bryna (Webber) and Harry Kraft, a dress manufacturer in Boston's Chinatown. His mother was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia; his father was a lay leader at Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline and wanted his son to become a rabbi. The Krafts were a Modern Orthodox Jewish family. Robert attended the Edward Devotion School and graduated from Brookline High School. As a child, he sold newspapers outside Braves Field in Boston. During high school, Kraft was unable to participate in most sports because it interfered with his after-school Hebrew studies and observance of the Sabbath.

Kraft attended Columbia University on an academic scholarship and he served as class president. He played tennis and safety on the school's freshman and lightweight football teams. During that time, Kraft lived in Carman Hall. He met Myra Hiatt at a delicatessen in Boston's Back Bay in 1962, and they married in June 1963. Kraft graduated from Columbia that year, and in 1965 he received an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Kraft began his professional career with the Rand-Whitney Group, a Worcester-based packaging company run by his father-in-law, Jacob Hiatt. In 1968, he gained control of the company through a leveraged buyout. Kraft remains the chairman. In 1972, he founded International Forest Products, a trader of physical paper commodities. The two companies are the largest privately held paper and packaging companies in the United States. Kraft has said he started the company out of a hunch that the increase in international communications and transportation would lead to an expansion of global trade in the late 20th century.

International Forest Products became a top 100 US exporter/importer in 1997 and in 2001 was ranked 7th on the Journal of Commerce's list in that category. In 1991, Kraft said of the business, "We do things for a number of companies, including Avon, Kodak, cosmetics companies, candies, toys." The company produced both corrugated and folding cartons, which he said were "used to package everything from the Patriot missile, to mints, to Estee Lauder, Indiana Glass, and Polaroid." Kraft acquired interests in other areas, and ultimately formed the Kraft Group as an umbrella for them in 1998.

Kraft was an investor in New England Television Corp., which gained control of the channel 7 license for Boston in 1982, and he became a director of the board in 1983, after the newly licensed station, WNEV-TV, signed on, replacing the former WNAC-TV. In 1986, Kraft was named president of the corporation. In 1991, he exercised his option to sell his shares for an estimated $25 million.

In June 1963, Kraft married Myra Nathalie Hiatt, a 1964 graduate of Brandeis University and the daughter of the late Worcester, Massachusetts, businessman and philanthropist Jacob Hiatt. She died on July 20, 2011, of ovarian cancer, aged 68. The Krafts were members of Temple Emanuel in Newton, Massachusetts. A patch bearing Kraft's initials (MHK) appeared on the Patriots' uniform jersey throughout the 2011 season. The couple had four sons: Jonathan Kraft, Daniel Kraft, Joshua Kraft, and David Kraft.

In June 2012, Kraft began dating actress Ricki Noel Lander. In July 2012, Kraft assisted Lander in creating an audition video for a role in The Internship. Lander and Kraft broke up in 2018.

In early 2022, Kraft's engagement to New York City-based ophthalmologist Dana Blumberg was announced by Tommy Hilfiger at the inaugural amfAR Gala Palm Beach event. Kraft and Blumberg reportedly began dating in 2017. They married in New York City in October 2022. Ed Sheeran performed at the wedding.

Myra and Robert Kraft have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to charity, including education, child- and women-related issues, healthcare, youth sports and American and Israeli causes. Among the institutions the Krafts have supported are Columbia University, Harvard Business School, Brandeis University, the College of the Holy Cross, Boston College, Tufts University, Rice University, Yeshiva University, the Belmont Hill School, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston.

In 1989, the Krafts launched the Passport to Israel Fund, in collaboration with Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston (CJP), to help parents send their teenage children to Israel. One its projects is supporting American Football Israel, including Kraft Family Stadium in Jerusalem and the Kraft Family Israel Football League. In 1990, Kraft, his wife, and his father-in-law funded a joint professorship between Brandeis University and the College of the Holy Cross, forming the Kraft-Hiatt endowed chairs in comparative religion—the first inter-religious endowed chairs in the United States.

In 2000, Kraft donated $11.5 million to construct the Columbia/Barnard Hillel, which is made of the white stone used in Jerusalem. In 2007, after a $5 million payment to Columbia's intercollegiate athletics program, the playing field at Columbia's Lawrence A. Wien Stadium at the Baker Field Athletics Complex was named Robert K. Kraft Field.

In 2011, the Krafts pledged $20 million to Partners HealthCare to launch the Kraft Family National Center for Leadership and Training in Community Health, an initiative designed to improve access to quality healthcare at New England community health centers. The Krafts supported the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

After the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, Kraft announced he would match up to $100,000 in donations made for the victims through the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation.

In 2017, Kraft announced a contribution of $6 million to build the first regulation-size American football field in Israel. In June 2017, Kraft and several NFL Hall of Famers traveled to Israel for the grand opening of the Kraft Family Sports Campus. Since then, he has led additional "Touchdown in Israel" trips to Israel, with Patriots and Hall of Famers. Also in 2017, Kraft funded a new van as part of the Kraft Center for Community Health at Massachusetts General Hospital to help combat the opioid crisis in Boston. The vans allow those with opioid addiction to seek health services in their neighborhoods.

In 2018, Kraft donated $10 million to Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston for the renovation of its headquarters in downtown Boston. In 2019, Kraft and Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich hosted "Final Whistle on Hate", a soccer match between the New England Revolution and Chelsea F.C. to raise money to combat antisemitism. The match raised an estimated $4 million, with Kraft personally contributing $1 million.

The next month, he pledged $100,000 to the families of seven motorcyclists killed in a crash the month before. Kraft donated $20,000 and attended the memorial in Worcester to honor fallen firefighter Christopher Roy on the first anniversary of his death. Kraft teamed with recording artists Jay-Z and Meek Mill, Fanatics executive chairman Michael G. Rubin, and others to announce REFORM Alliance, a criminal justice reform foundation. In coordination with REFORM Alliance, Kraft invited more than 50 children aged 5 to 17 to fly on the Patriots' team charter to attend a game against the Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium. The children all had parents who had been incarcerated for technical probation violations. As of 2019, Kraft had led 27 missions to Israel.

In 2020, Kraft partnered with Chinese company Tencent to purchase 1.2 million N95 masks to donate to medical workers in New York and Massachusetts to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic, sending the Patriots' private team plane to China to pick up the supplies. Kraft initially negotiated for 1.7 million masks, but only 1.2 million fit on board. They were allowed three hours on the ground in China at Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport. The plane was delivered 500,000 vaccines to El Salvador in May 2021. Using the Patriots truck, they distributed 300,000 masks in New York City, 900,000 in Massachusetts, and 100,000 in Rhode Island.

In May 2020, Kraft put his Super Bowl LI ring up for auction with proceeds designated to help feed those facing food insecurity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kraft lent the Patriots team plane to the University of Rhode Island Rams football team in October 2021 after the team's charter flight fell through. He covered all costs despite the URI Rams expecting to pay expenses through the team's budget.

In April 2022, Harvard Business School announced the creation of the Robert K. Kraft Family Fellowship Fund, committing $24 million to benefit potential students with limited means to attend HBS.

On October 30, 2022, the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS), which Kraft founded, sponsored an ad encouraging people to denounce hate against Jewish people. The ad aired during NFL games and was titled "Stand Up to Jewish Hate". It came in response to antisemitic comments made by Kanye West and Kyrie Irving. Kraft invested $25 million in the "Stand Up to Jewish Hate" campaign, which launched through the foundation in March 2023 to raise awareness of online antisemitism. The foundation's executive director said the ads would air during the NFL draft, the NBA and NHL playoffs, and on social media. In October 2025, the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism rebranded as Blue Square Alliance Against Hate.

2026 reporting on the Kraft Family Foundation described Jewish causes as one of its largest areas of grantmaking and listed Machne Israel and Chabad of Southampton among recent grantees, alongside institutions such as the Jewish Museum and Friends of United Hatzalah.

In September 2026, Kraft donated $10 million toward a $25 million campaign to convert Kutz Hall at Brandeis University into the Robert K. Kraft Family Center for Jewish Life and Leadership, a planned home for the university's Hillel chapter.

In October 2026, Kraft donated $5 million toward the construction of a $25 million Chabad center in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The facility was planned to be named the Kraft Family Chabad at Chestnut Hill.

Support for Israel

The Intercept reported in 2026 that, according to tax records dating back to 2006, Kraft has donated to various pro-Israel organizations: Kraft Family Foundation had donated $196,000 to the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces and $123,000 to other organizations directly serving soldiers and veterans of the Israeli military. The Kraft Group limited liability company has given $3 million to the United Democracy Project super political action committee (super PAC) of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) since 2022. Kraft's foundation has also given $63,500 to the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), including a $36,000 contribution in 2018 with the memo line "fighting antisemitism". In 2011–12, it also gave approximately $50,000 to The Investigative Project on Terrorism. From 2008 to 2018, it gave $150,000 to the Middle East Media and Research Institute (MEMRI).

Kraft has also organized visits to Israel for NFL players, including Tom Brady.

In June 2019, Kraft received Israel's Genesis Prize. At the ceremony in Jerusalem, he pledged $20 million to establish Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (rebranded as Blue Square Alliance Against Hate), which he pledged would combat the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, saying that it "and other efforts to delegitimize and undermine the State of Israel are the most disconcerting times for the country I love so much". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "Israel does not have a more loyal friend than Robert Kraft."

In April 2024, during the Gaza war protests at Columbia University, Kraft stopped funding the university "over the treatment of Jewish students and faculty during pro-Palestinian protests at the campus", citing "virulent hate". According to Adam Saifer and Fahad Ahmad, Kraft is among "billionaire donors" who "have used their vast wealth—and the threat of withdrawing it—to demand a severe crackdown on student protesters expressing solidarity with Palestine" since October 2023.

Kraft led efforts to remove Macklemore from Ed Sheeran's 2026 Loop Tour after he said "free Palestine" onstage and performed "Hind's Hall", a song inspired by the Gaza solidarity protests at Columbia and the "Hinds Hall" occupation of Hamilton Hall, renamed by protesters in honor of Hind Rajab, a Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the Gaza war. Kraft called Sheeran to say he would not be allowed to perform at Gillette Stadium, which is owned by the Kraft Group, if Macklemore was not removed from the tour. Macklemore was subsequently dropped from the tour.

Hours after Macklemore posted a detailed account of his perspective on being removed from the tour on social media, Kraft released a statement in which he spoke of his long fight against antisemitism, agreed with Macklemore on the suffering of the Palestinians, evoked the responsibility of Hamas, invited Macklemore to meet, and said they had "peace for all people" as a common goal.

According to Philissa Cramer in Haaretz, "Kraft inherited the position as the most prominent Jewish billionaire supporting Israel in the United States" from Sheldon Adelson, though she contrasts his attitude with Adelson's position that "Palestinian is an invented identity, unworthy of recognition."

In 2019, Kraft was among 25 people facing first-degree misdemeanor charges for soliciting prostitution at a day spa. His attorney electronically entered a not-guilty plea, and later submitted a court filing where Kraft waived arraignment, pled not guilty to all charges and requested a jury trial. A memo filed by Kraft's attorneys revealed that hidden cameras had been installed when investigators entered the facility under the guise of suspected human trafficking. A Palm Beach County judge ruled that prosecutors could not use the videos in their case, citing privacy concerns. A Florida appeals court also ruled that Kraft's constitutional rights were violated, and all the charges were dropped. U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz ordered the videos to be destroyed.

In 2026, it was revealed that Kraft had kept a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and that Epstein had recommended Kraft use his lawyer to defeat the charges.