Iris Weinshall
Iris Weinshall is the longtime wife of politician and Senate Minority Leader Charles ‘Chuck’ Schumer. The two have been married for decades and have two adult children together.
Iris’s husband was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, where his dad owned a small exterminating business and his mom was a housewife. He attended public school and graduated from James Madison High School before heading to Harvard University, and then Harvard Law School.
According to his official website, Chuck was elected to the New York State Assembly after graduating from Harvard Law School in 1974. In 1980, at 29, Chuck was elected as a congressman from the 9th Congressional District.
He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1998, Schumer was re-elected in 2004 with 71% of the vote, in 2010 with 66% of the vote, and in 2016 with 70% of the vote.
He’s been happily married to Iris Weinshall since 1980. The two met while attending a Mid-Bay Independent Democrats meeting in Midwood, Brooklyn. At the time the then 21-year-old Iris worked on a local election and had gone to the event to drum up an endorsement. While Chuck, then 24 was already a state assemblyman.
Iris Weinshal is the mother of the couple’s two daughters Jessica and Alison.
Aside of being Chuck’s wife, Iris has certainly made a name for herself. Born September 5, 1953; the Brooklyn native holds a Master’s in Public Administration from New York University and a B.A. from Brooklyn College.
She serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the New York Public Library, she was appointed to her current post in 2014.
In a few words, Iris Weinshal oversees a $324 million operating budget and $500 million in capital projects across the New York Public Library system’s 92 locations.
Iris previously served as the former vice chancellor at the City University of New York. During this time she faced heavy criticism following a Staten Island ferry crash that killed 11 people.
She and her husband have been married for the past 36-years. Of their decade-long marriage the couple has said they speak regularly on the phone saying ‘they talk on the phone in the morning and evening the four days a week that he spends in Washington.’
Both of the couple’s daughter are Harvard graduates. Alison Schumer works in the tech industry, while Jessica Schumer is chief of staff at The Robin Hood Foundation.
Join the Conversation