LIESEL
PRITZKER
Former child
actress; studied
African history
at Columbia;
founded two
private
foundations.
HARRY PRITZKER
(1893–1957)
NICHOLAS PRITZKER
(1871–1956)
JACK PRITZKER
(1904–1979)
JENNIFER
(FORMERLY JAMES)
PRITZKER
Retired colonel;
donated $2 million to
establish first
academic chair of
transgender studies.
ROBERT PRITZKER
(1926–2011)
DONALD PRITZKER
(1932–1972)
MATTHEW
PRITZKER
Founded
the Matthew
Pritzker
Company, a
private-
equity firm.
KAREN
PRITZKER
Founded
Seedlings
Foundation,
which develops
educational
programs.
LINDA
PRITZKER
Practices as
a lama of Tibetan
Buddhism; is
building a
spiritual retreat
center in
Montana.
ANTHONY
(TONY)
PRITZKER
Owns the
Pritzker Group,
which has a
stake in Elon
Musk’s rocket
firm, SpaceX.
JAY ROBERT
(J.B.)
PRITZKER
Governor of
Illinois;
cofounder
of the
Pritzker Group.
NICK PRITZKER
Chairman and CEO
of the Hyatt
Development Corp.
PENNY
PRITZKER
U.S. secretary
of commerce
from 2013
to 2017;
founded PSP,
a private-
investment firm.
THE QUIETEST HOUSE
The SPRAWLING INFLUENCE of the VAS T
but SECRETIVE PRITZKER FAMILY
an opinion piece, headlined “Trump’s
Transgender Ban a ‘Huge Step Back-
ward.’ ” “Being a transgender woman, I
had to hide who I was during my time in
service,” Pritzker wrote. “I can’t express
how strongly I disagree with Trump’s
statement...[which] hurts our Armed
Forces and shows a callous disregard for
the rights of American citizens.”
In January, she published another
opinion piece, in the Washington Post.
This time, she expressed her disapproval
of Trump and the Republican Party by
issuing perhaps the only kind of warning
they might heed: the threat to close her
pocketbook. “I have hoped the Republi-
can Party would reform from within and
end its assault on the LGBTQ commu-
nity. Yet, the party continues to cham-
pion policies that marginalize me out
of existence, define me as an eccentric
character...” she wrote. “I ask Republi-
cans to prioritize policies that improve
our country for all Americans. When the
GOP asks me to deliver six- or seven-figure
contributions for the 2020 elections, my
first response will be: Why should I con-
tribute to my own destruction?”
S
hortly after the piece was pub-
lished, I reached out to inter-
view Colonel Pritzker. Two
months later, on a brisk March morning,
I found myself in her stately conference
room, with its lovely views of the Frank
Gehry–designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion in
Millennium Park, Chicago’s civic hub,
just across Michigan Avenue. (Jay, Jen-
nifer’s uncle, founded the Pritzker Archi-
tecture Prize in 1979.)
Pritzker’s manner is no-nonsense but
friendly. She wears a touch of light-red
lipstick, and her gray hair is gathered back
into a bun, held fast with a gold clip. Black
slacks are tucked into knee-high black
leather boots. Over her light-blue dress
she wears a delicate printed shawl fas-
tened by a gold medallion.
Pritzker, who turned 69 in August, is
self-effacing. She jokes about not being
able to fit into her old Army uniform. “It
was issued to me a long time ago, in a
previous life, many pounds ago. There’s
more of me now,” she says. “I’m not going
to be Miss America this week.”
Pritzker owns one of the biggest in-
dividual real estate portfolios in the
Chicago region. In 2013, according to
the Tribune, she owned some 35 proper-
ties, including a home in Evanston that
was her primary residence (which she
has reportedly sold). An avid cyclist,
she often biked to and from the Loop,
24 miles round trip. Today, she doesn’t
specify where she lives, saying simply it’s
“near here.” She still cycles quite a bit,
just “kind of at old-lady speed.”
Pritzker has bought, restored, and
redeveloped numerous historic build-
ings in and around Chicago, for which
the prestigious Society of Architectural
Historians bestowed her with its Award
for Excellence in Architectural Steward-
ship. “The best buildings provide a sense
of identity,” she says. Indeed, her inter-
est in historic preservation stems from
memories of a large house at 340 Wel-
lington Avenue, which was home to her
grandparents Abram and Fanny Pritzker.
When Jennifer was a child, it was knocked
down and replaced by a glass tower. “If I
had been an adult, I would have bought it.
It was the house my parents got married
in, and both my uncles. Many Pritzkers
went into prototype at that location.”
Inside the restored Monroe Build-
ing, constructed in 1912, Pritzker is add-
ing a new chapter to her family legacy.
She leads me on a tour of the PMML,
where admission is free for active ser-
vice members and just $5 for everybody
else (supporting memberships are avail-
able, too). In CONTINUED ON PAGE 120
SEPTEMBER 2019 VANITY FAIR 105
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