Rhoda Pritzker

Rhoda Pritzker (September 11, 1914–December 23, 2007) was a British-American philanthropist. She was a member of the Pritzker family, one of the wealthiest families in Chicago, through her marriage to lawyer and businessman, Jack Pritzker. The Pritzker family founded the Hyatt hotel chain during the 1950s.

Rhoda Pritzker was born Rhoda Goldberg in 1914 to Jewish parents in Manchester, England. Her parents were Morris Goldberg, a Gilbert and Sullivan circus performer, and Cissie Goldberg, a concert pianist. She did not begin her schooling until she was ten years old due to a case of tuberculosis. She dropped out before completing high school in order to take a position with a newspaper in Southport, Lancashire. She also worked for a number of other British newspapers and the British Broadcasting Corporation at a young age.

Goldberg immigrated to the United States in 1939 on one of the last trans-Atlantic passenger ship convoys before the full outbreak of World War II. Pritzker family lore claims that she wore her life preserver throughout the entire length of the voyage due to the constant threat of German U-boat attack.

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