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Jonathan Steinberg is that increasingly rare thing: a Westport native. Born at Bridgeport Hospital, he grew up in town, where his father opened one of Westport's first internal medicine practices—still operating on the Post Road today—and his mother became fiction editor of Publishers Weekly, interviewing literary giants like Philip Roth and Margaret Atwood. A portrait honoring her decades of service to the Westport Library hangs at its entrance.
A 1974 Staples graduate, Jonathan played on one of the country's first high school ultimate Frisbee teams, which could fairly claim a national championship after beating the sport's originators. At Yale, pre-med ambitions gave way to psychology, but his real home was a cappella singing—three groups, albums, and tours that cured a shy kid of his shyness and served as his first training for politics.
After early career stops at Trifari and Avon, Jonathan earned his MBA with honors from NYU's Stern School, financing it partly by driving a yellow cab—and turning his fares into a thesis on tipping behavior. He went on to a 25-year career in product management and marketing at Fortune 100 companies including Bristol-Myers, Wyeth, and Revlon, later rising to Senior Vice President at Jewish Home Lifecare. He and his wife Nancy married in 1990, returning to Westport in 1996 to raise their three daughters.
Drawn to public service, Jonathan served seven years on Westport's RTM before volunteering in 2010 as the Democrats' longshot candidate for state representative—and winning. He served 16 years in Hartford, the district's longest tenure, becoming House Chair of the Energy & Technology Committee and a leader of the moderates’ caucus behind the state's bipartisan "fiscal guardrails." Now, after a razor-thin loss in the 2021 First Selectman's race and Nancy's retirement from JP Morgan, Jonathan is taking a break from politics—but not from Westport. Still a persistent voice on local sustainability, he looks forward to making new friendships through the Y's Men.
Click here for full bio on website: Jonathan Steinberg
(Interview and Bio by Clarence Hayes)
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