48 Facts About Thomas Kean

Thomas Howard Kean is an American politician, statesman, and academic administrator from the state of New Jersey.

Thomas Kean's father, Robert Kean, was a member of the US House of Representatives, and his grandfather, Hamilton Fish Kean, was a US senator.

Thomas Kean served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1968 to 1978 and held the role of speaker of the Assembly from 1972 to 1973.

In 1981, Thomas Kean was elected governor of New Jersey; he was re-elected in 1985.

Thomas Kean was born in New York City to a long line of Dutch Americans and New Jersey politicians.

Thomas Kean's mother was Elizabeth Stuyvesant Howard and his father, Robert Kean, was a US representative from 1939 until 1959.

Thomas Kean is descended from William Livingston, who was a delegate to the Continental Congress, was the first governor of New Jersey, and is considered a founding father of New Jersey.

When he reached fourth grade, he entered St Albans School, a college preparatory boarding school in Washington, DC In 1946, at the age of eleven, Thomas Kean was enrolled at St Mark's School, an Episcopalian private school in Southborough, Massachusetts that was the alma mater of his father and his two older brothers.

In 1967, running as a moderate Republican, Thomas Kean was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly.

Thomas Kean ran with Philip D Kaltenbacher, a Short Hills Republican who had served as an aide to Assemblyman Irwin I Kimmelman from 1964 to 1966; Kimmelman later served as Attorney General in Kean's administration as New Jersey governor.

At the start of the Assembly session in 1972, the New Jersey Assembly's then Democratic leadership sought to name S Howard Woodson of Trenton as Speaker until Assemblyman David Friedland made a deal as one of four Democrats who voted to give the minority Republicans control of the General Assembly, and Kean was elected as Assembly Speaker.

In 1973, Thomas Kean served briefly as acting New Jersey governor.

In 1977, Thomas Kean ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for governor of New Jersey.

Thomas Kean was unable to obtain the endorsement of many county Republican chairmen, or from then US President Ford despite having served as Ford's campaign director for the state of New Jersey the previous year.

Bateman defeated Thomas Kean and won the nomination, though Bateman went on to lose the general election to Brendan Byrne.

Thomas Kean worked as a political commentator on New Jersey public television.

Four years later, in 1981, Thomas Kean again ran for governor.

Thomas Kean won every municipality in the state except Audubon Park and Chesilhurst in Camden County and Roosevelt in Monmouth County.

Thomas Kean began receiving national recognition following the launch of a multi-million dollar promotional campaign for New Jersey tourism, in television commercials promoting New Jersey as a tourist destination, that aired nationally during throughout his eight years as governor.

In 1988, Thomas Kean delivered the keynote speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans.

Also in 1988, Thomas Kean authored a book entitled The Politics of Inclusion.

Thomas Kean believed that the cultural center had the power to revitalize Newark and strengthen the state as a whole.

Thomas Kean remained involved in advocacy for the arts years after his time as governor, criticizing arts funding cuts in 2007.

Thomas Kean worked extensively with traditional Democratic constituencies, especially on urban policies.

Thomas Kean divested New Jersey's public retirement funds from South Africa during apartheid, embraced the implementation of the statewide holiday in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

In January 1990, Thomas Kean was succeeded as governor by James Florio.

Thomas Kean left office in January 1990 as one of the most popular political figures in New Jersey political history.

In 1990, following the end of his second gubernatorial term, Thomas Kean was named President of Drew University, a liberal arts university in Madison, New Jersey.

Thomas Kean would frequently eat lunch unannounced with students in the dining hall and was a regular spectator at Drew sporting events.

Thomas Kean served as Drew's president until 2005, and taught a highly selective political science seminar at the university.

Thomas Kean advocated continued US aid to anti-communist resistance forces in Afghanistan, Angola, and to those engaged in supporting democratic change in the former Soviet Union.

Thomas Kean was appointed to the boards of several important foreign policy bodies, including the US government-funded National Endowment for Democracy ; a Presidential advisory commission on a post-Castro Cuba, which was chaired by former US Presidential Republican candidate Steve Forbes; and President Bill Clinton's One America Initiative.

Thomas Kean served as an advisory board member for the Partnership for a Secure America.

Thomas Kean served as co-chair of the National Security Preparedness Group at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Thomas Kean has served as chairman of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation's largest health philanthropy; the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy; the Carnegie Corporation of New York; Educate America; the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation; MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership; and the Newark Alliance.

Thomas Kean has served as a board member for several publicly traded companies, including Aramark, UnitedHealth Group, Hess Corporation, The Pepsi Bottling Group, CIT Group, and Franklin Templeton Investments.

The backdating allegedly occurred with the knowledge and approval of the directors, including Thomas Kean, who sat on the company's compensation committee during three crucial years, according to The Wall Street Journal.

From 1995 until 2018, Thomas Kean was a weekly columnist for The Star-Ledger, a Newark-based newspaper and the most widely circulated newspaper in the state.

Thomas Kean is an advisor to, and has been inducted into, Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity, and is a partner in Quad Partners, a private equity firm that invests in the education industry.

Some alleged that Thomas Kean did not have the depth of foreign policy and national security expertise needed to manage an investigation so integral to the future of American national security.

The 95-minute video prominently featured video excerpts of Thomas Kean citing al-Qaeda as one of the most formidable security threats that the US had ever confronted, presumably cited with the intention of bolstering the morale of al-Qaeda supporters.

Comments by Thomas Kean cited on the video include a reference to the fact that al-Qaeda remained as strong in 2007 as it was before the September 11,2001, attacks.

Thomas Kean holds over 30 honorary degrees and numerous awards from environmental and educational organizations, including:.

In 2013, Thomas Kean was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

Thomas Kean met his future wife, Deborah Bye, at a party in Manhattan.

Bye and Thomas Kean married at the Old Drawyers Church in Odessa, Delaware on June 3,1967.

Thomas Kean moved to Livingston, New Jersey in 1967 during his first campaign for office.

Deborah Thomas Kean died on April 24,2020 at the age of 76.