Who is a part of Warren Buffett’s family? Who is Warren Buffett married to?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A big part of Warren Buffett’s life is not only accumulating wealth, but also building a family. According to The Snowball<\/em> by Alice Schroeder, Buffett’s aspiration to have a family stemmed from his difficult childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let’s look at the many ways Warren Buffett built a family throughout his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Editor\u2019s note: This article is part of\u00a0Shortform\u2019s guide to friendships<\/a>. If you like what you read here, there\u2019s plenty more to check out in the guide!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Warren Buffett’s family starts with his childhood, but he always strived for more relationships. Despite Buffett\u2019s longing for independence<\/a>, he spent his life accumulating friends as much as he spent it making money. Schroeder hints that because of Buffett\u2019s lack of emotional connections in childhood, he spent his adult life forging intense relationships with others<\/a>. Of the many people drawn to Buffett, several stand out in particular: his wife, Susie Thompson Buffett; his business partner Charles Munger; his close companion Katharine Graham<\/a>; and tech giant Bill Gates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Growing up, Buffett was awkward with women, but in 1950 he fell for Susie Thompson. Buffett studied public speaking in the hope of overcoming his awkwardness with women, and when that didn\u2019t work he wooed her parents instead. Schroeder claims that it was Buffett\u2019s vulnerability that finally won Susie over. She had an urge to take care of others, and she wanted to give him the love and support he\u2019d never received as a child.<\/strong> They married in 1952 and had three children: Susan, Howard, and Peter. Buffett and Susie made it a point to raise their children to not take money for granted. Buffett promised to pay for their education, but not to give them the easy trust fund life that other children of the wealthy enjoyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: In a 2013 interview with CNN, Buffett said that Susie \u201chelped him grow up<\/a>\u201d from a time in which he didn\u2019t have a good opinion of himself. In Getting the Love You Want<\/em><\/a>, Harville Hendrix and Helen LaKelly Hunt explain that people unconsciously seek out romantic partners whose traits balance those that are repressed within themselves<\/a>. However, Hendrix and Hunt also point out that the very characteristics that bring people together\u2014for example, Buffett\u2019s need to be mothered\u2014are the same ones that eventually drive them apart<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the \u201970s, Susie grew depressed about the state of their marriage, feeling that while she cared for Buffett\u2019s needs, he failed to acknowledge hers. However, she didn\u2019t want a divorce. Instead, she moved to San Francisco and arranged for her friend Astrid Menks to cook and clean for Buffett in Nebraska, taking over Susie\u2019s homemaking duties. Schroeder claims that Susie convinced Buffett this wasn\u2019t a separation, but once it sank in that their marriage was over, Buffett was devastated and blamed himself completely. He and Susie still spoke on a regular basis and appeared together at public functions. Astrid kept a low profile so as not to spoil the public illusion that Buffett and Susie were together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: Despite Buffett\u2019s public persona<\/a> as an embodiment of traditional Midwestern values, his continued marriage with Susie was anything but usual<\/a>. Buffett\u2019s daughter Susan praised her parents\u2019 marital arrangement<\/a> as something that allowed them both to be happy and pursue the lives they wanted. Unlike the stereotypical marriage of convenience<\/a> in which couples stay together for the sake of their children or financial stability, Buffett and Susie continued to support and love each other from afar<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of all the people in Buffett’s ever-growing network, there was one who\u2019d become like a surrogate brother. In 1959, Buffett met Charles Munger, a California lawyer who shared many of his values, including his drive for financial independence. Munger and Buffett clicked right away, and Munger built his own network of partners based on Buffett\u2019s model. After Buffett dissolved his other partnerships, he and Munger became inseparable friends,<\/strong> to the point that they could finish each other\u2019s thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: More than merely being Warren Buffett\u2019s shadow, Charles Munger is a respected financial giant in his own right. Munger, the author of Poor Charlie\u2019s Almanack<\/em><\/a>, occasionally clashed with Buffett about business decisions, such as whether to invest in Costco or electric car maker BYD<\/a>. Munger has recently made a name for himself as an outspoken critic of cryptocurrency<\/a>, using much more colorful language to describe it<\/a> than Buffett ever would.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Buffett\u2019s marriage to Susie was breaking down in the \u201970s, he formed an intense emotional bond with Katharine Graham,<\/strong> publisher of The Washington Post<\/em>. He approached her about investing in her paper, and though she distrusted him at first, she was quickly taken in by his authenticity. Graham introduced Buffett to the ways of high society, while he mentored her on business and public speaking. Schroeder writes that they shared the bond of having been raised by abusive mothers and that they grew so emotionally close that many friends assumed they were having an affair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: Despite Buffett and Graham\u2019s relationship being described as flirtatious<\/a>, there\u2019s no evidence that they were anything more than close friends. In her memoir Personal History<\/em><\/a>, Graham downplays Buffett\u2019s role to that of a trusted financial adviser. It may be more accurate to describe them as \u201cwork spouses,\u201d<\/a> close friends who relate over aspects of their careers in ways that their other loved ones cannot. Studies have shown that nearly half the people in the workforce have had such close relationships<\/a> at one time or another.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n After finding a brother in Charles Munger and a work spouse in Katharine Graham, Buffett met Bill Gates, a young man like-minded enough to carry his legacy as an intellectual son.<\/strong> He met Gates in 1991, and though Buffett was leery of tech companies, he connected with Gates\u2019s intensity of focus. They shared many ideas on business, and Buffett saw Gates as someone he could mentor. Beyond that, says Schroeder, Buffett was impressed by the efficiency of Gates\u2019s charitable foundation. Buffett needed somewhere to channel his money after his death, and in Gates he found someone he trusted to be the steward of his wealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: Reflecting on their friendship, Bill Gates said in 2019 that he still looks on Buffett as a father figure<\/a>, often asking himself when facing difficulties, \u201cWhat would Warren do?\u201d For Buffett\u2019s 92nd birthday in 2022, Gates posted a series of photos on Instagram<\/a> to commemorate their time together. The Wall Street Journal<\/em> did the same<\/a>, highlighting their joint commitment to philanthropy.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n The inevitable tragedy of Buffett\u2019s long life was that of outliving the people he loved. In 2001, Katharine Graham collapsed and later died from an injury to her head. Susie, still acting as Buffett\u2019s emotional caretaker, helped him through his period of grief. However, two years later, Susie herself was diagnosed with oral cancer. For the first time, it was Buffett\u2019s job to take care of her, and Schroeder writes that the emotional shock was nearly more than Buffett could bear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, Buffett supported his wife through her painful recovery. When Susie passed away in 2004, Buffett mourned her in seclusion for months. However, Schroeder notes that once Buffett eased back into his daily life, he began to shoulder more of his family and friends\u2019 emotional needs. In 2006, Buffett married his longtime caregiver Astrid Menks, at last making their relationship public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many different types of grief, and Graham\u2019s and Susie\u2019s deaths three years apart affected Buffett in different ways. Graham\u2019s unexpected death came as a traumatic loss<\/a> that brought with it a double dose of grief\u2014that of the loss itself, and that of its unexpected nature. Susie\u2019s was different in that her illness brought with it a sense of anticipatory grief<\/a>\u2014that in which someone mourns a loved one\u2019s suffering before they\u2019re even gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Buffett was unprepared for the passing of his loved ones, he now says he\u2019s at peace with the thought of his own mortality<\/a>. And while many of his investors are worried about what will happen to his brand after his death, Buffett is confident that Berkshire Hathaway will be able to carry on without him<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Who is a part of Warren Buffett’s family? Who is Warren Buffett married to? A big part of Warren Buffett’s life is not only accumulating wealth, but also building a family. According to The Snowball by Alice Schroeder, Buffett’s aspiration to have a family stemmed from his difficult childhood. Let’s look at the many ways Warren Buffett built a family throughout his life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":85988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,12],"tags":[822],"class_list":["post-85777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","category-relationships","tag-the-snowball","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nAccumulating People: Finding a Family<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Personal Loss<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Buffett and Mortality<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n