Jim Cramer (James Cramer)
Candlefocus EditorCramer was born in 1955 with creative parents. His mother was an artist, and his father was an entrepreneur who owned a company that sold wrapping paper, boxes, and bags. After graduating high school, Cramer attended Harvard University, garnering a magna cum laude Bachelors's degree in government in 1977. Following this he attended Harvard Law School and received his Juris Doctor degree in 1984.
Cramer launched his illustrious career by becoming a novice reporter in Tallahassee, Fla. During his stint as a reporter he covered the highly publicized Ted Bundy murders. In the same period, Cramer also began studying the stock market and investing. After managing his own account for some time, he eventually branched out and ran a hedge fund from 1987 to 2000. The fund purportedly had only one year of negative returns.
Cramer found success in financial media in 1996 when he began hosting a new show called the CNBC's Wall Street Confidential. The show was extremely popular and kept going strong until 2005. His fame only increased over the years, culminating with him becoming a bestselling author, with “Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World” topping The New York Times bestseller list in 2005.
Today, Cramer still presides as a host of two CNBC shows - Mad Money and A&E's series Jim Cramer's Get Rich Carefully. His financial expertise coupled with his entertaining style of hosting has made him incredibly popular and one of the most heard of people in the field of investing.