Jennifer Pritzker Snags A Spot Among 48 Affluent Females In Forbes 400: Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Recognized As First Transgendered Billionaire[VIDEO & REPORT]

By Jobs & Hire Staff Reporter | Sep 17, 2013 08:50 AM EDT

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The Forbes Richest 400 or Forbes 400 list hailed first transgendered billionaire in the person of retired Army lieutenant col. James, now Jennifer Pritzker, Forbes reported Tuesday.

Forbes noted that this year 48 affluent females have made it to the Forbes 400 list, but Jennifer Pritzker stood out among the rest for being the first transgendered billionaire to snag a spot.

Jennifer Natalya Pritzker (nee James) is considered as one of the 11 extended Pritzker family members, who landed a spot on the famous list of the wealthiest people. The Pritzker family reportedly sold a majority of stake in industrial conglomerate Marmon Holdings to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway for $4.5 billion in 2007, and they continued to manage publicly-listed Hyatt Hotels.

Jennifer Pritzker, the heiress to the said hotels has an estimated net worth of $1.7 billion.

DNAinfo Chicago reported that Jennifer Pritzker announced in August that "in all business and personal undertakings" she would be known and regarded as a woman and has even legally changed her name to "reflect the beliefs of her true identity."

Meanwhile, A spokesperson for Pritzker's Chicago-based family investment office Tawani Enterprises confirmed to Forbes that the change in the transgendered billionaire's name may not be legally finalized until the final week of October.

Crain's Chicago Business reportedly broke the news about the name change in late August, saying, "This change will reflect the beliefs of her true identity that she has held privately and will now share publicly. Pritzker now identifies herself as a woman for all business and personal undertakings."

Before Jennifer Pritzker became the Jennifer the world has known today, she was actually a retired Army lieutenant colonel who had served active duty in the Army for 11 years and had also served the U.S. National Guard for 16 years.

The Forbes 400 transgendered billionaire gave $1.35 million to the Palm Center to support the creation of the Transgender Military Service Initiative, which aims "to sponsor state-of-the-art scholarship on transgender military service, and to enhance the quality of public dialogue."

Forbes reported that Jennifer donated $25 million to Norwich University in April, the school that established the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC). She also founded the Pritzker Military Library in 2011. The library was a research museum dedicated to "the Citizen Soldier in the preservation of democracy."

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