Greta Van Susteren

Greta Van Susteren

Van Susteren in Manchester, New Hampshire, January 8, 2008
Born Greta Conway Van Susteren[1]
(1954-06-11) June 11, 1954
Appleton, Wisconsin, U.S.
Education University of Wisconsin (B.A.)
Georgetown University (J.D.)
Occupation Television presenter, news anchor, commentator
Years active 1991–present
Television Burden of Proof, The Point, On the Record
Religion Scientology
Spouse(s) John P. Coale (m. 1988)

Greta Conway Van Susteren (born June 11, 1954) is an American commentator and television news anchor formerly on the Fox News Channel, where she hosted On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren. A former criminal defense and civil trial lawyer, she appeared as a legal analyst on CNN co-hosting Burden of Proof with Roger Cossack from 1994 to 2002, playing defense attorney to Cossack's prosecutor. In 2016,[2] she was listed as the 94th most powerful woman in the world[3] by Forbes, up from 99th in 2015.[4]

Early life

Van Susteren (Dutch for "from Susteren") was born in Appleton, Wisconsin. Her father, Urban Van Susteren, was of Dutch descent.[5][6] Her mother, born Margery (Conway), was a homemaker of Irish descent.[7][8] Van Susteren's father was a longtime friend of future U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy was best man at Greta Van Susteren's parents' wedding.[9] Urban Van Susteren, an elected judge, served as a campaign strategist for McCarthy, although Urban later broke with him.[10]

Van Susteren's sister, Lise, is a forensic psychiatrist in Bethesda, Maryland. In 2006, Lise was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for United States Senate.[11] Her brother, Dirk Van Susteren, was a journalist and long-time editor of the Vermont Sunday magazine, jointly published, until folding in 2008, by the Rutland Herald and the Barre Montpelier Times Argus.[12]

Van Susteren graduated from Xavier High School in Appleton in 1972 and the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1976, where she studied geography and economics. She later earned a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1979 and prior to the start of her television work returned to Georgetown Law as an adjunct faculty member in addition to her full-time legal career. She was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree from Stetson Law School.[13]

Career

During coverage of the O. J. Simpson murder trial, she appeared regularly on CNN as a legal analyst.[14] This led to her stint as co-host of CNN's Burden of Proof and The Point.

Van Susteren made a special celebrity guest appearance on the Cartoon Network original series Space Ghost Coast to Coast in 1998.

In 2002, Van Susteren switched to the Fox News Channel after a highly publicized contract-bidding war. She hosted the current affairs show On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren.

In 2012, an orphanage and school opened in Haiti called The Greta Home and Academy, which Greta and her husband helped found alongside Samaritan's Purse.

In 2014, Van Susteren criticized a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Texas, Dwayne Stovall, who was challenging two-term incumbent John Cornyn in the primary election on March 4, 2014, after Stovall ran an advertisement calling Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Cornyn's superior in the Senate leadership, an ineffective "Beltway turtle". Until the controversial advertisement, the media had largely ignored Stovall's candidacy. Van Susteren called Stovall a "jerk" for running the ad: "You can be clever and funny in ads ... or you can be gratuitously insulting."[15]

On September 6, 2016, she resigned from Fox News. She was not able to say goodbye on-air, as the network immediately filled the On the Record anchor spot with Brit Hume. Van Susteren, who said that Fox "has not felt like home to me for a few years," chose to take advantage of a clause in her contract that allowed her to resign from the network immediately: "The clause had a time limitation, meaning I could not wait."[16]

Personal life

Van Susteren married tort lawyer John P. Coale in 1988.[17] Coale, a self-described "ambulance chaser," became known as "Bhopal Coale" for his solicitation of clients among victims of the Bhopal disaster.[18] He has served as an adviser for Sarah Palin.[19]

Van Susteren and her husband are members of the Church of Scientology.[17][20]

From August 2006 until January 2014, she was a co-owner of the Old Mill Inn, a restaurant in Mattituck, New York, on the North Fork of Long Island.[21][22]

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ McNamara, Alix (June 6, 2016). "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women". Forbes.
  3. ↑ "#94 Greta Van Susteren". Forbes. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  4. ↑ "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women". Forbes. Forbes. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  5. ↑ For more info, see respective pages {van} and {Susteren} (a toponymic surname)
  6. ↑ Dutch Americans, New Netherlands Institute
  7. ↑ Smolowe, Jill (February 18, 2002). "Nipped, Tucked and Talking". People (magazine). Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Former Auburn Girl is Pictured with Sen. Joe McCarthy as Guest" (PDF). Citizen Advertiser. Auburn, New York. October 20, 1951. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  9. ↑ Bulik, Mark (January 19, 2015). "1945: Joe McCarthy at a Love Fest". The New York Times. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  10. ↑ "A Call to Action". Fox News. November 7, 2005. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
  11. ↑ Wagner, John (September 1, 2005). "Lise Van Susteren Joins Md. Senate Race". Washington Post.
  12. ↑ "Dirk Van Susteren". Maple Corner Media. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
  13. ↑ "Greta Van Susteren". Fox News. January 13, 2011.
  14. ↑ "Greta Van Susteren - Biography". Answers.com. Retrieved May 16, 2010.
  15. ↑ Beamon, Todd (February 14, 2014). "Greta Slams Longshot GOP Candidate as 'Jerk' for McConnell Insult". Newsmax. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  16. ↑ Snider, Mike (September 6, 2016). "Greta Van Susteren quits Fox News". USA Today.
  17. 1 2 Jacoby, Mary (December 13, 1998). "High profile couple never pairs church and state". St. Petersburg Times.
  18. ↑ Goldberg, Jonah (October 26, 1998). "Regrettable Van Susteren". National Review.
  19. ↑ Stelter, Brian (May 25, 2009). "A Host Defends Her Brand". The New York Times.
  20. ↑ Dunn, Geoffrey (May 2011). The Lies of Sarah Palin. St. Martin's Press. p. 396. ISBN 0-312-60186-7.
  21. ↑ Cohen, Arianne (August 7, 2006). "Lobster Van Susteren, Anyone?". New York Magazine. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
  22. ↑ Marcus, Erica (January 17, 2014). "Greta Van Susteren no longer owns Old Mill Inn in Mattituck". New York Magazine. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
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