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December 03, 2008

Ford Foundation Links Parents of Obama and Treasury Secretary Nominee

In an unusual twist of fate, the parents of Barack Obama and his pick for secretary of Treasury, Timothy Geithner, share a nonprofit connection: they worked at the Ford Foundation at the same time.

Indeed, Mr. Geithner’s father was head of the philanthropy’s Asia grant making for a period in the early 1980s and oversaw the work of Mr. Obama’s mother, who developed the organization’s microfinance programs in Indonesia.

According to the foundation, they met at least once in Jakarta.

No word on whether the two parents speculated on the future careers of their sons.

— Ian Wilhelm

Wednesday December 3, 2008 | Permalink

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