MK Pritzker

Mary Kathryn Pritzker (née Muenster; born 1967) is an American philanthropist. As the wife of Governor JB Pritzker, she has served as the First Lady of Illinois since 2019. Pritzker is the former director of the Pritzker Family Foundation and is the founder of the Evergreen Invitational equestrian competition. In 2023, she authored a book about the Illinois Governor's Mansion titled A House That Made History: The Illinois Governors Mansion, Legacy of an Architectural Treasure.

Early life and education Pritzker was born Mary Kathryn Muenster in 1967 in Lincoln, Nebraska to Theodore Muenster Jr. and Karen Muenster. Her father was the Democratic nominee in the 1990 US Senate election in South Dakota and served as chief of staff to Democratic Governor of South Dakota Richard F. Kneip. Her mother served in the South Dakota Senate from 1985 to 1992 and was the minority whip from 1988 to 1992. Pritzker's father grew up on a farm in Beatrice, Nebraska that had been given as a land grant to their family during the American Civil War.

Pritzker served as director of the Pritzker Family Foundation for over a decade, supporting the Pritzker Consortium, the First Five Years Fund, the Ounce of Prevention Fund, Erie Family Health, and Lawndale Christian Health. She was involved in building a scholarship and grant plan for Pritzker School of Law at Northwestern University focused on social justice, civil and human rights, and entrepreneurship initiatives.

On January 14, 2019, she became the first lady of Illinois upon her husband's inauguration as governor. As first lady, she focused on expanding access to reproductive healthcare, developing restorative criminal justice for incarcerated women, supported LGBTQ+ initiatives, and promoted the visual and performing arts. She oversaw the mansion's renovations with the help of designer Michael S. Smith, with whom she published a book through Rizzoli detailing the home's history, architecture and design titled A House That Made History: The Illinois Governors Mansion, Legacy of an Architectural Treasure. Proceeds from the book went to maintain the upkeep of the mansion. She reframed photographs of forty former Illinois first ladies that she discovered in the mansion's attic and hung them in the mansion's galleries.

Personal life In 1993, she married Jay Robert "JB" Pritzker, whom she had met in Washington, D.C. when she worked as an aide to U.S. Senator Tom Daschle. Her husband, a billionaire businessman and Democratic politician, is a member of the Pritzker family that owns Hyatt Hotels. They also reside in the Illinois Governor's Mansion in Springfield since her husband's election as governor in 2019. She converted from Protestantism to Judaism, the faith of her husband.

Pritzker owns her family farm in Nebraska and another farm in Wisconsin. She has a herd of six miniature cows, given to her by her husband, as of 2023. She is an equestrian.