Mehmet Oz

Daytime Emmy Award-winning host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” is Vice-Chair and Professor of Surgery at Columbia University. He directs the Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, raised in Delaware and received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University (1982) and obtained a joint MD and MBA (1986) from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Wharton Business School. He was awarded the Captain’s Athletic Award for leadership in college and was Class President followed by President of the Student Body during medical school. He lives in Northern New Jersey with his wife Lisa of 25 years and their four children, Daphne, Arabella, Zoe, and Oliver. In addition to belonging to every major professional society for heart surgeons, Dr. Oz was named Forbes’ #3 most influential celebrity (10), has been honored as one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People (08), Esquire magazine’s 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century, a Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum (99-04), and “The Harvard 100 Most Influential Alumni” in the 02138 magazine, as well as receiving the Ellis Island Medal of Honor (08). Much of Oz’s fortune, not to mention his ties to Pennsylvania, come from a different source: His wife’s wealthy family. Her grandfather cofounded Asplundh Tree Expert with his two brothers in 1928. With $4.7 billion in revenue, Asplundh is now the 98th biggest private company in America and the fifth largest in Pennsylvania, with more than 33,000 employees. The 93-year-old company, which trims trees for electric utilities, municipalities and others, is run by the third generation of Asplundhs and owned by nearly 200 family members – who are collectively worth at least $3 billion. According to Federal Election Commission records, at least 18 members of the Asplundh clan contributed a total of $62,200 to his senate campaign on behalf of themselves and their spouses (the limit for individual contributions is $2,900).