James Joseph Cramer (born February 10, 1955) is an American television personality and author. He is the host of Mad Money on CNBC, and an anchor on Squawk on the Street. After graduating from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he became a hedge fund manager, founder, and senior partner of Cramer Berkowitz. He co-founded TheStreet.com, which he wrote for from 1996 to 2021. Cramer hosted Kudlow & Cramer from 2002 to 2005. Mad Money with Jim Cramer first aired on CNBC in 2005. Cramer has written several books, including Confessions of a Street Addict (2002), Jim Cramer's Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World (2005), Jim Cramer's Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich (2006), and Jim Cramer's Get Rich Carefully (2013). Early life Cramer was born in 1955 in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania (a suburb of Philadelphia), to Jewish parents, and is Jewish. Cramer's mother, Louise A. Cramer (1928–1985), was an artist. Cramer's father, N. Ken Cramer (1922–2014), owned International Packaging Products, a Philadelphia-based company that sold wrapping paper, boxes, and bags to retailers and restaurants. Cramer and his family moved to Springfield Township and he attended Springfield Township High School in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1973. He competed for the high school track team. Among his first jobs, starting sometime in 1971, Cramer sold Coca-Cola and then ice cream at Veterans Stadium during Philadelphia Phillies games. Cramer first began studying stocks in the fourth grade and continued the habit through high school. Education and early career In 1977, Cramer graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts in government. While at Harvard, Cramer was the president and editor-in-chief of The Harvard Crimson. Additionally, Cramer was a National Merit Scholar. After college, Cramer was an entry-level reporter, making $15,000 per year. Beginning March 1, 1978, Cramer worked for the Tallahassee Democrat in Tallahassee, Florida, where he was one of the first people to cover the Ted Bundy murders since he lived only a few blocks away. Then-executive editor Richard Oppel said: "[Cramer] was like a driving ram. He was great at getting the story." He subsequently worked for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner writing obituaries. During this time, his apartment was robbed and he lost everything, forcing him to live out of his car for 9 months. He also worked for Governor of California Jerry Brown. Cramer was one of the first reporters at American Lawyer.