Craig Hatkoff

Craig M. Hatkoff (born March 19, 1954) is an American real estate investor and philanthropist from New York City. Along with his wife Jane Rosenthal, and Robert De Niro, he co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Institute in 2002. The three were recipients of the inaugural September 11 National Museum and Memorial Foundation "Notes of Hope Award" for Distinction in Rebuilding in September 2008.

Early life and education

Hatkoff was born to a Jewish family in upstate New York, the son of Doris (née Wildove) and Leon Hatkoff. He is a 1972 graduate of The Albany Academy, and graduated from Colgate University. He received an MBA from Columbia University. He has two sisters His sister Susan is married to investor Alan Patricof.

Career

Hatkoff has authored multiple best-selling children's books with his young daughters including the #1 New York Times best-selling Owen & Mzee: The True Story Of A Remarkable Friendship which describes the friendship between a tortoise and an orphaned hippopotamus in Kenya after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Other works include Good-Bye, Tonsils (2001), Knut: How one little polar bear captivated the world (2007) about the polar bear cub Knut from the Berlin Zoo and "Looking for Miza" and "Cecil's Pride". "Looking for Miza" and "Cecil's Pride" both were written together with his daughters. Winter's Tail, (Scholastic Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-545-12335-8) is about the disabled dolphin Winter. The Hatkoff's series of children's books have won numerous prestigious awards including the American Book Association Book of the Year and the Christophers Award. Owen and Mzee has been published in 17 languages including Swahili, Braille, Arabic and Hebrew.

One of Turtle Pond Publications significant investments is Fillpoint LLC a videogame e-commerce direct-to-consumer distribution and fulfillment provider. In February 2009, Fillpoint acquired from the Handleman Company the much larger videogame distribution and publishing operations SVG Distribution and Crave Entertainment, that focus on in-store distribution platform.

Tribeca Film Festival

In 2002, Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff founded the Tribeca Film Festival in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan. .

Other endeavors

Hatkoff is Chairman of Turtle Pond Publications which owns or invests in a number of new media, entertainment and publishing ventures. Hatkoff is the co-founder of Capital Trust and served on the board of Directors.

Personal life

In 1995, Hatkoff married Jane Rosenthal; they have two daughters. In 2014, Rosenthal and Hatkoff announced their divorce after 19 years of marriage.