William Jarrett
William Jarrett is the late ex-husband of former White House senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett.
William’s ex-wife was born November 14, 1956 as Valerie June Jarrett, the daughter of James E. Bowman and Barbara Taylor Bowman was born in Iran but was raised in Chicago after the family moved there when she was five.
Valerie who also lived in London due to her father’s job as a pathologist and geneticist –went on to attend Northfield Mount Hermon in 1974. She earned a B.A. in psychology from Stanford University in 1978 and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Michigan Law School in 198.
Last year, she also received an honorary degree from Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
Is no secret Jarrett is close to the Obamas and is widely considered one of the couple’s best friends.
Jarrett was one of the first to recognize Obama’s political gifts and appeal. And she knew how to capitalize on them: During the 2008 campaign, she didn’t have a formal role or portfolio, but, over the objections of other senior advisers, she urged Obama to make his famous race speech in Philadelphia, in the midst of the controversy surrounding his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.
Since then, it was obvious why she was was named “senior adviser to the president of the United States and assistant to the president for public engagement and intergovernmental affairs” after previously working in city government and business.
Valerie became a married woman in 1983, she and her former husband William Robert Jarrett, separated four years later and were divorce in 1988.
The two welcomed one daughter, Laura Jarrett.
The couple’s only child Laura, is a Chicago based private litigator who was recently hired by CNN.
Valerie who never married again, dated Ahmad Rashad a few years ago. She and the former NFL star and NBC personality were linked together back in 2013; but since then he has moved on with a new gal named, Ana (pictured below).
Born in 1953, William Jarrett was the son of, Vernon Jarrett –a famous Chicago Sun Times columnist. His journalist father who died in 2004, worked in newspaper, TV and radio and was known for his influence on race relations, politics, and African-American history.
William Jarrett himself, passed away suddenly of cardiac arrest at age 40. The Chicago native was a doctor who worked as director of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Jackson Park Hospital.
According to his obituary, he was a graduate of Roosevelt University, after having attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. He completed his medical education at the Abraham Lincoln School of Medicine at the University of Illinois in Chicago. He served his residency at Pontiac General Hospital in Pontiac, Michigan.
He died November 20, 1993 leaving behind a wife, Sherry Luck. He was also survived by a son, Vernon C. Jarrett and a step-daughter, Khadija Holman.
He and Dr. Sherry Luck founded the Jarrett-Luck Medical Center in Chicago.
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