Bob Menendez Biography, Net Worth, Wife, Daughter & Education

From the school board of his place of residence to the Congress, then the United States Senate, Democratic politician Bob Menendez is one of the most influential political figures in Houston County. Since 2006, he has held the post of US Senator from New Jersey. He was appointed to the Senate by Governor Jon Corzine, who had vacated the seat after winning the New Jersey gubernatorial election. This appointment meant that he would complete Corzine’s term, after which he would win the seat in the next election. Here’s everything you need to know about the Latino politician.

Bob Menendez Biography

Senator Bob was born Robert Menendez on January 1, 1954 in New York City. A few weeks before he was born in the United States, his parents had emigrated from Cuba to the United States and had come to settle in Union City, New Jersey, where Menendez would spend the rest of his childhood. Her father, Mario Menéndez, worked as a carpenter, while her mother, Evangelina, worked as a seamstress.

Bob Menendez was quite the outspoken kid, an attribute his speech teacher Gail Harper would come to develop, turning the young Menendez into an articulate orator. His political career began in high school in Union City, where he served as student body president.

In the early 1970s, Menendez rose to prominence for opposing his mentor, then-Union City mayor William Musto, by successfully starting a petition to reform the local school board. Menendez in 1982 challenged Musto in his bid to retain his seat as mayor, but lost. In the second time of his attempt in the next election campaign in 1986, he won. Musto had left his seat to serve in the Senate.

In 1987, while continuing to serve as Mayor Menendez, began representing the 33rd District in the New Jersey General Assembly. He stepped down as mayor in 1992. Following the death of State Senator Christopher Jackman, Menendez won the special election to represent the 33rd district in the New Jersey State Senate.

From 1993 to 2006, Bob Menendez served as the Member of the United States House of Representatives for New Jersey’s 13th District. He did not leave home until January 2006 to continue the tenure of Jon Corzine who left the Senate to become Governor of New Jersey. Menendez became the 6th Latino to serve in the US Senate. In the Senate, Menendez served on a handful of committees, including the banking, housing and urban affairs, finance, and foreign relations committees.

Education

Bob Menendez holds a Juris Doctor degree from Rutgers Law School in Newark, where he graduated in 1979. He attended Saint Peter’s College in Jersey City where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. During his time at school, Menendez was a member of the Lambda Theta Phi fraternity. He became the first member of his family to attend college.

Net value

As a public servant, Bob Menendez is mandated to release his tax returns which gives the general public insight into his personal wealth. Much of his income comes from his salary as a civil servant. He supplements his income through rent from his properties in Union City.

His net worth became a hot topic during his 2018 Senate election against millionaire Republican businessman Bob Hugin. Menendez’s 2017 tax returns showed he earned pre-tax income of around $194,000. $174,000 comes from his senator salary and the rest of his rental properties. The senator owns stock in MetLife worth less than $15,000.

According to our sources, Bob Menendez’s net worth in 2017 was $300,000.

woman and girl

Bob Menendez has been married twice in his lifetime. His first marriage was to Jane Jacobsen in 1976. Jacobsen worked for the City Union Board of Education of which Menendez became a member in 1974 and for Union City Public Schools. Their union produced two children, a daughter named Alicia Menendez and a son, Robert Menendez. Their marriage ended in divorce in 2005.

Alicia, Menendez’s daughter, is a popular figure on television. She is a journalist and runs her own show, Alicia Menendez Tonight on Fusion, a television network aimed at millennials. Before booking her own show on the network, Alicia hosted a show on HuffPost Live and appeared on larger networks like CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.

On his show, the Harvard alum interviewed the likes of Chelsea Clinton, Taylor Swift, Janet Mock and more. Alicia worked on her father’s campaign team as a strategist during his Senate bid in 2006. As of January 2015, she has been married to Carlos Odio, a former White House staffer under the government. Barack Obama.

Bob Menendez is now married to Alicia Mucci, widow of famed Jersey restaurateur Robert Mucci, who died on May 12, 2012 aged 69, ending their three-year marriage. Robert Mucci owned the Old Time Sizzlin’ Steakhouse restaurant in Hackensack, New Jersey. In early December 2013, the NY Daily reported that Menendez popped the question to Alicia Mucci in the Capitol Rotunda.

Alicia Mucci has 5 children from her previous marriage. She is originally from Paramus, New Jersey and works as a real estate agent. Her Facebook page reveals that in 2009, when she had just married her late husband, she was working as a bartender at the Stony Hill Inn.

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