Jimmy Wales Quick Info | |
---|---|
Height | 5 ft 6 in |
Weight | 72 kg |
Date of Birth | August 7, 1966 |
Zodiac Sign | Leo |
Spouse | Kate Garvey |
Jimmy Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur, webmaster, and former financial trader. He is known as a co-founder of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia and as a co-founder of the for-profit web hosting company Wikia, later renamed Fandom. In 2006, Time named him one of “The 100 Most Influential People in the World” and he was named one of “25 Web Superstars” by The Daily Telegraph in February 2014.
Born Name
Jimmy Donal Wales
Nick Name
Jimbo
Sun Sign
Leo
Born Place
Huntsville, Alabama, United States
Residence
London, England, United Kingdom
Nationality
Education
Jimmy Wales received his early education at the House of Learning, a small private school in the tradition of the one-room schoolhouse run by his mother and maternal grandmother. His siblings also studied there.
He started studying at Randolph School, a college preparatory school in Huntsville, after 8th grade and graduated at the age of 16. In 1986, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Auburn University.
He received his Master of Science degree from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and then entered the university’s Ph.D. finance program before entering the Ph.D. finance program at Indiana University. However, he did not write the doctoral dissertation required for a Ph.D., something he ascribed to boredom.
Occupation
Entrepreneur, Webmaster, Former Financial Trader
Family
- Father – Jimmy Wales Sr. (Worked as a grocery store manager)
- Mother – Doris Ann (née Dudley) (Ran the House of Learning alongside her mother)
- Siblings – Johnny (Younger Brother), DeeAnna (Younger Sister), Dori (Older Sister)
- Others – Hubert L. Wales (Paternal Grandfather), Nellie Gravitt (Paternal Grandmother), John Earl Dudley (Maternal Grandfather), Erma/Enna L. Coleman (Maternal Grandmother) (Ran the House of Learning alongside her daughter, Doris)
Manager
Jimmy Wales has been repped by Wikia, Inc., Company, San Francisco, California, United States.
Net Worth
According to CelebrityNetWorth.com, his net worth had been $15 Million.
Build
Average
Height
5 ft 6 in or 167.5 cm
Weight
72 kg or 158.5 lbs
Girlfriend / Spouse
Jimmy Wales has dated –
- Pamela Green (1986-1993)​ – He was just 20 years old when he married Pamela Green, a co-worker at a grocery store in Alabama. However, the marriage ended in divorce in 1993.
- Christine Rohan (1997-2008)​ – Jimmy Wales met Christine Rohan through a friend in Chicago while she was working as a steel trader for Mitsubishi and they got married in Monroe County, Florida in March 1997. They were later blessed with a daughter but the duo eventually separated in 2008. They divorced in 2011.
- Rachel Marsden (2008) – He had a short-termed romance with Rachel Marsden, a Canadian conservative columnist, in 2008. Their affair allegedly started when Marsden contacted Wales about her Wikipedia biography.
- Kate Garvey (2012-Present) – On October 6, 2012, he got married to Kate Garvey at Wesley’s Chapel in London, England. They had met in Davos, Switzerland and she has been Tony Blair’s former diary secretary. The duo parents 2 daughters.
Race / Ethnicity
White
Jimmy Wales is of English, German, Irish, and Scots-Irish/Northern Irish descent.
Hair Color
Salt and Pepper
Eye Color
Blue
Sexual Orientation
Straight
Distinctive Features
Receding hairline
Religion
Atheism
In an interview with Big Think, he stated that his personal philosophy is firmly rooted in reason and he is a complete non-believer.
Jimmy Wales Facts
- Despite it being expensive for his family, he studied at Randolph School and has said that “education was always a passion in my household … you know, the very traditional approach to knowledge and learning and establishing that as a base for a good life.”
- He received the UNESCO Niels Bohr Medal in Copenhagen, Denmark on December 5, 2013.
- He has stated that he is “a strong supporter of Israel”.
- Jimmy Wales was awarded the President’s Medal of the British Academy in September 2017 “for facilitating the spread of information via his work creating and developing Wikipedia, the world’s largest free online encyclopedia”.
- In 2019, he became a British citizen.
- After reading Timothy Ferriss’ book The 4-Hour Workweek, Wales secretly moved to Argentina for a month.
- He is a passionate chef.
Featured Image by Cary Bass / Wikimedia / CC BY-SA 3.0