Martha Stewart
Photo: David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons30

Martha Stewart

American businesswoman, writer, TV personality (born 1941)

Martha Helen Stewart (née Kostyra, Polish: [kɔˈstɨra]; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, focusing on home and hospitality, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing publishing, broadcasting, merchandising and e-commerce.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Martha Stewart (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Aug 3, 1941.1

About

She has written numerous bestselling books, was the publisher of Martha Stewart Living magazine and hosted two syndicated television programs: Martha Stewart Living, which ran from 1993 to 2004, and The Martha Stewart Show, which ran from 2005 to 2012.

Stewart was convicted of felony charges related to the ImClone stock trading case; she served five months in federal prison for fraud and was released in March 2005. There was speculation that the incident would effectively end her media empire, but in 2005, Stewart began a comeback campaign, and her company returned to profitability in 2006. Stewart rejoined the board of directors of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in 2011 and became chairwoman of her namesake company again in 2012. The company was acquired by Sequential Brands in 2015. Sequential Brands Group agreed in April 2019 to sell Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, including the Emeril brand, to Marquee Brands for $175 million with benchmarked additional payments.

In 2023, at the age of 81, Stewart became the oldest woman to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue magazine. In 2024, she was the subject of a Netflix documentary titled Martha, directed by R. J. Cutler.

From Wikipedia’s article on Martha Stewart, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Holdings

Stock this person has reported owning, from the forms officers and directors file with the SEC. See the biggest insider stakes.

Shares held

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Recent filings

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedNutley High School3
  • Date not recordedBarnard College3

Martha Stewart was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, on August 3, 1941. She is the second of six children born to parents Martha (née Ruszkowski; 1914–2007) and Edward Kostyra (1912–1979) and is of Polish heritage. Her parents were teachers, with her father later becoming a pharmaceutical salesman. When Stewart was three years old, the family moved to Nutley, New Jersey. She adopted the name "Grace" at her Catholic confirmation.

When Stewart was 10, she worked as the occasional babysitter for the children of Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and Gil McDougald, all players for the New York Yankees. Mickey and Merlyn Mantle had four sons, whom Stewart watched and for whom she organized birthday parties. She also began modeling. At 15, Stewart was featured in a television commercial for Unilever. She went on to appear in television commercials and in magazines, including one of Tareyton's "Smokers would rather fight than switch!" cigarette advertisements. During her college years, she supplemented her scholarship money through "modeling jobs at $15/hour — which was a lot of money at that time." Among the companies she modeled for was Chanel.

Stewart's mother taught her how to cook and sew. Later, she learned the processes of canning and preserving when she visited her grandparents' home in Buffalo, New York. Her father had a passion for gardening and passed on much of his knowledge and expertise to his daughter. Stewart was also active in many extracurricular activities, such as the school's newspaper and art club.

Stewart graduated from Nutley High School. She attended Barnard College of Columbia University, originally planning to major in chemistry, but switching to art, history, and later architectural history. To help pay her college tuition, she did fashion modeling for Chanel. During this time, she met Andrew Stewart, who finished his law degree at Yale Law School. They married in July 1961. She returned to Barnard a year after their wedding to graduate with a double major in history and architectural history.

From Wikipedia’s article on Martha Stewart (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: television presenter, businessperson, journalist, writer, interior designer, television staff, entrepreneur, television producer.5

Known for: Martha Stewart Living.6

In 1967, Martha Stewart began a second career as a stockbroker, her father-in-law's profession. Meanwhile, Andrew Stewart founded a publishing house and was chief executive of several others. Andrew and Martha Stewart moved to Westport, Connecticut, where they purchased and restored the 1805 farmhouse on Turkey Hill Road that would later become the model for the TV studio of Martha Stewart Living. During the project, Stewart's panache for restoring and decorating became apparent.

In 1976, Stewart started a catering business in her basement with a friend from her modeling days, Norma Collier. The venture quickly became successful but soured when Collier alleged that Stewart was difficult to work with, and was also taking catering jobs on the side. Stewart soon bought Collier's portion of the business. Stewart was also hired as the manager of a gourmet food store, the Market Basket, but after a disagreement with the owners at the mini-mall she was forced out and opened her own store. In 2024, she played Martha Ryan Gabries in the Martha movie. She was the main protagonist in this film.

Andrew had become the president of prominent New York City publisher Harry N. Abrams, Inc. In 1977, he was responsible for releasing the English-language edition of The Secret Book of Gnomes series, by Dutch authors Wil Huygen and Rien Poortvliet, which quickly became a blockbuster success and was on The New York Times Best Seller list. He contracted Stewart's company to cater the book release party, where Stewart was introduced to Alan Mirken, head of Crown Publishing Group. Mirken was impressed by Stewart's talent as a chef and hostess and later contacted her to develop a cookbook, featuring recipes and photos from the parties that Stewart hosted. The result was her first book, Entertaining (December 13, 1982), ghostwritten by Elizabeth Hawes.

Following the success of Entertaining, Stewart released many more books under the Clarkson Potter publishing imprint, including Martha Stewart's Quick Cook (1983), Martha Stewart's Hors d'Oeuvres (1984), Martha Stewart's Pies & Tarts (1985), Weddings (1987) (which was also ghostwritten by Elizabeth Hawes), The Wedding Planner (1988), Martha Stewart's Secrets for Entertaining (1988), Martha Stewart's Quick Cook Menus (1988), and Martha Stewart's Christmas (1989), among others. During this time, she also authored dozens of newspaper columns, magazine articles, and other pieces on homemaking, and made numerous television appearances on programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show and Larry King Live.

Andrew and Martha Stewart separated in 1987 and divorced in 1990.

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Later career

In 1990, Stewart signed with Time Publishing Ventures to develop a new magazine, Martha Stewart Living, for which Stewart was editor-in-chief. The first issue was released in late 1990 with an initial rate base of 250,000. Circulation would peak in 2002 at more than 2 million copies per issue.

In 1993, Stewart began a weekly half-hour television program, also called Martha Stewart Living, based on her magazine. The show expanded to weekdays in 1997 and later to a full hour show in 1999 with half-hour episodes on weekends, and ran until 2004. Stewart also became a frequent contributor to NBC's Today Show and later to CBS's The Early Show, and starred in several prime time holiday specials on the CBS network.

On the cover of their May 1995 issue, New York Magazine declared Stewart "the definitive American woman of our time".

In 2019, it was reported that Stewart was entering the cannabis industry with her own brand.

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia

In September 1997, with the assistance of business partner Sharon Patrick, Stewart was able to secure funding to purchase the various television, print, and merchandising ventures related to the Martha Stewart brand, and consolidate them into a new company, named Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO). Stewart was chairwoman, president, and CEO of the new company and Patrick became Chief Operations Officer. By organizing all of the brand's assets under one roof, Stewart thought she could promote synergy and have greater control of the brand's direction through the business's activities. That same month, Stewart announced in Martha Stewart Living the launch of a companion website and a catalogue business, called Martha by Mail. The company also had a direct-to-consumer floral business.

On October 19, 1999, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia went public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MSO. The initial public offering was set at US$18 per share (equivalent to $35 in 2025), and rallied to US$38 (equivalent to $73 in 2025) by the end of trading, making Stewart a billionaire on paper and the first female self-made billionaire in the United States. The stock price slowly went down to $16 per share by February 2002. Stewart was then and continues to be the majority shareholder, commanding 96% control of voting power in the company.

From Wikipedia’s article on Martha Stewart (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • BornAug 3, 1941, Jersey City7
  • CitizenshipPoland, United States8
  • ResidenceKatonah, Austin9

In 1961, she married Andrew Stewart, then a student at Yale Law School. Their only child, daughter Alexis Stewart, was born in 1965. The couple separated in 1987 and divorced in 1990. Through Alexis, she has two grandchildren. Stewart later revealed that she kissed a stranger during their honeymoon and that she had an affair early in her marriage. Subsequently, Martha Stewart dated Anthony Hopkins but ended the relationship after she saw The Silence of the Lambs. She stated she was unable to avoid associating Hopkins with the character of Hannibal Lecter.

Stewart dated billionaire Charles Simonyi, who was an early employee of Microsoft and head of their software group, on and off for 15 years. She featured footage of him as a space tourist aboard Soyuz on her television show in 2007. They broke up around February 2008.

Stewart is an animal lover. Her pets include champion show Chow Chow dogs, French Bulldogs, Himalayan cats, a Fell Pony named Ben Chunch, and Friesian horses. After her daughter informed her about fur farming, Stewart ceased to wear real furs.

Martha Kostyra, Stewart's mother, died at the age of 93 on November 16, 2007. Kostyra, also called "Big Martha" by her family, had appeared on Martha Stewart Living numerous times.

Stewart resides in Katonah, a hamlet of the town of Bedford, New York. She also maintains a 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) residence on Mount Desert Island in Seal Harbor, Maine, known as Skylands, the former summer estate of automobile designer and tycoon Edsel Ford, with gardens designed by landscape architect Jens Jensen (1922).

In 2020, during Jimmy Kimmel's appearance on the TV show Finding Your Roots, a genealogy report determined that he and Stewart are cousins.

From Wikipedia’s article on Martha Stewart (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Awards

  • 2018New Jersey Hall of Fame10 12
  • Date not recordedDaytime Emmy Award10 11

Sources

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