Howard Schultz

Howard Schultz founded the modern version of Starbucks — acquiring the original Seattle coffee company in 1987 for $3.8 million and building it into a global chain of more than 35,000 locations in 80 countries — and served as its CEO for decades before stepping back permanently in 2023. Born July 19, 1953, in the Canarsie housing projects of Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish family, Schultz grew up in poverty, earned his degree from Northern Michigan University on a football scholarship, and built one of the most recognizable consumer brands in world history from a working-class origin story that has been central to his public identity. His 2019 autobiography, "From the Ground Up," opens with his Brooklyn upbringing.

Schultz's Jewish identity has been a consistent thread in his public biography and civic engagement. He has spoken about how his family's experience with poverty and vulnerability shaped his values and his connection to Israel's founding story. He has been a donor to Israeli causes and has visited Israel multiple times, speaking about the emotional connection he feels to the country. Starbucks faced a significant and sustained BDS-related consumer boycott beginning in 2023 — prompted largely by a social media post from the Starbucks Workers United union expressing solidarity with Palestinians — and Schultz, despite being retired from operational leadership by then, was drawn back into public defense of the company and his own values.

His 2023 public statements clarifying that the company's union had acted independently and did not speak for Starbucks corporate, and his personal affirmation of his Jewish identity and support for Israel, placed him in the pro-Israel public discourse more visibly than at any point during his operational tenure. The episode illustrates the vulnerability of major consumer brands to political controversy around Israel and the significance of having a Jewish founder willing to speak publicly in his own voice. At Rank 65, Schultz is the self-made Jewish billionaire from Brooklyn whose immigrant working-class roots give his pro-Israel voice a different biographical texture than those of more establishment Jewish philanthropists.