Judi Ann Stish Ross Nathan GiulianiJudy Bachrach, "Giuliani's Princess Bride", Vanity Fair, September 2007. Accessed August 15, 2007.As her father, Donald Stish, told Vanity Fair, "Judi is what she was born. I don't think we called her Judith ever." (born December 16, 1954)Jodi Kantor, "Judi, Jeri and the Rest", in "Hurtling Toward a Nomination, 2008", The New York Times, 2007-09-02. is an American registered nurse, former medical sales executive, charity fundraiser, and ex-wife of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. She was a managing director of philanthropic consulting firm Changing Our World and a founding board member of the Twin Towers Fund.Lloyd Grove, "The Thunderbolt", New York, May 13, 2007. Accessed May 16, 2007.Nancy Collins, "Rudy’s First Lady" , Harper’s Bazaar, February 28, 2007.
Early life and education Judi Ann StishShe is listed in her high school yearbook as "Judi Ann Stish", according to Kent Jackson's article "Notable Natives: Giuliani, Maddon in Same Class", The Standard-Speaker, 12 August 2007 (standardspeaker.com, registration required) was born and raised in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, a town known for its coal mining history.Jim Fanelli, Susan Edelman, "Judi'S Ex No. 1 A Huffy Hubby" , New York Post, April 1, 2007. Accessed April 3, 2007.Heidi Evans, " Eager Judi left coal town in dust" , New York Daily News, April 29, 2007. Accessed May 6, 2007. Her family is Roman Catholic of Italian descent on her father's side and Polish descent on her mother's side. The surname Stish was previously modified from Sticia.Rudy!: An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani, Basic Books, 2000, , pp. 430-434. Her father, Donald Stish Sr., was a circulation manager for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and her mother, Joan Ann (Ososki), was a homemaker.Sarah Kershaw, "One Woman's Year In the Spotlight's Heat; Friends Call Judith Nathan Stunned By the Media Circus of New York", The New York Times, June 16, 2001, page B8. Accessed February 14, 2007. She had an older brother, Donald Jr., who died in 2004, and has a younger sister, Cyndy. As of 2007, her parents still resided in the same home where she grew up in Hazleton.
Stish graduated from Hazleton High School in 1972, where she participated in the Future Nurses Association, the Literary Society, the tennis and ski clubs, and the Diggers Club, a volunteer service organization.Kris Wernowsky, "Giuliani’s wife tabbed liability" , Times Leader, January 9, 2007. Accessed February 15, 2007. Interested in both the human and scientific aspects of the field,20/20 interview with Barbara Walters, March 30, 2007. she attended a two-year nursing program, affiliated with Pennsylvania State University, at St. Luke's Hospital in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and graduated with a registered nurse diploma on September 1, 1974.David Saltonstall, Heidi Evans, "How 20-year-old Judith tied the knot in Chapel of the Bells, Las Vegas", New York Daily News, March 23, 2007. Accessed March 24, 2007. She credits her decision to become a registered nurse as "one of the most practical, wonderful ones I ever made…because, aside from the science, you learn crisis management, decision making, prioritizing…"
First marriages, medical sales career, motherhood After graduation, Stish worked for a few months as a nurseDavid Saltonstall, Heidi Evans, "How 20-year-old Judith married in Las Vegas' Chapel of The Bells", New York Daily News, March 22, 2007. Accessed March 23, 2007. at Sacred Heart Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania. On December 8, 1974, she and Jeffrey Ross, a medical supply salesman, eloped to Las Vegas and were married at the Chapel of the Bells. The couple soon relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina, where they both took jobs with U.S. Surgical CorporationWayne Barrett, Rudy!: An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani, Basic Books, 2000, , pp. 430-434. in 1975 selling medical supplies in the Southeast; Judi Ross specialized in showing doctors in operating rooms a new surgical stapling method.David Saltonstall, "Silence struck ex as odd", New York Daily News, March 23, 2007. Accessed March 24, 2007. She and Ross separated amicablyChris Echegarray, " Judith gets a First Lady thumbs up from her ex" , New York Daily News, April 2, 2007. Accessed April 3, 2007. after four years, and their marriage ended in divorceAndrea Peyser, Maggie Haberman, "Judi Giuliani's Secret Husband Revealed" , New York Post, March 22, 2007. Accessed March 23, 2007. which was finalized on November 14, 1979. The couple had no children.
On November 19, 1979, Judi Stish Ross married wallpaper salesman Bruce Nathan, whom she had met during her separation from her first husband. Judi Nathan stopped working around that time; the couple lived in Charlotte for two years, then moved to Atlanta, Georgia. The Nathans adopted a daughter, Whitney, in March 1985."The Women In Giuliani's Life", CBS News, May 11, 2000. Accessed February 14, 2007. The family moved to Manhattan in 1987 and Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles in 1991. During these years, she briefly worked for DynaMed Surgical in California. She also converted from Roman Catholicism to Presbyterianism.
The Nathans' marriage fell apart during the early 1990s and led to a contested divorce case and custody battle, which included accusations of abuse from both parties. The Nathans' divorce was finalized in 1992 and she won primary custody of their child.Craig Gordon, "Giuliani's wife reveals she, too, is twice divorced", Newsday, March 23, 2007. Accessed April 4, 2007. Nathan, who used the name "Judith" from this time, moved back to New York in March 1992. Now a single mother, she worked part-time in a dentist's office and attended New York University computer and business classes at night and on weekends. Nathan received a New York nursing license and began working in 1993 as a pharmaceutical sales representative with the hospital sales division of Bristol-Myers Squibb, selling surgical supplies, anti-depressants, and antibiotics in the tough Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn; one of her specialties was infectious diseases."First Lady of the Hamptons Judith Giuliani", Hampton Style, July 4, 2006. Accessed February 14, 2007. Around this time Judith became romantically involved with Woodhull Hospital clinical psychologist Manos Zacharioudakis;Heidi Evans, "Old flame's just wild about Judi", New York Daily News, April 16, 2007. Accessed April 19, 2007. Archived on December 10, 2018. she and her daughter lived with him for four years, until early 1999. By 1997, she became one of Bristol-Myers' top sales managers, Eric Pooley, "Person of the Year 2001 Rudy Giuliani", Time, December 24, 2001. Accessed February 14, 2007 managing a 12-person sales team.
Relationship with and marriage to Giuliani Judith Nathan met Mayor Giuliani in May 1999 at Club Macanudo, an Upper East Side cigar bar;Eric Konigsberg, "Drawing Fire, Judith Giuliani Gives Her Side", The New York Times, August 5, 2007. Accessed August 14, 2007. they have said they were introduced by a doctor who is a mutual friend. Giuliani took the initiative in forming an ongoing relationship. The mayor was still married to and living with his second wife, Donna Hanover, although they had been publicly distant since 1996,Margaret Carlson, "In Rudy's Playground", Time, July 11, 1999. Accessed February 15, 2007. and Nathan was still living with Zacharioudakis although the couple had separated a few months earlier. For most of a year, the relationship was kept secret, and in early 2000 Giuliani arranged for New York Police Department security and chauffeuring for her. By March 2000, Giuliani and Nathan were appearing together at public events; in May 2000, Giuliani publicly acknowledged her as his "very good friend" and, amidst a flurry of press scrutiny about Nathan, announced he was separating from Hanover. Nathan endeared herself to the mayor's powerful inner circle of friends and advisers. Later in 2000, Giuliani credited Nathan's nursing background in helping him through his treatment for prostate cancer. Nathan aggressively researched treatment options and Giuliani was quoted as saying, "I felt so fortunate to have not only someone who loved me and cared about me, but also someone who was an expert with an enormous amount of knowledge of medicine and science — she was the single biggest support that I had."Price, Diana. "Judith Giuliani: A Caregiver's Perspective", Women and Cancer, Winter 2006, pp. 69–72.
Judith and Rudy Giuliani became engaged in Paris in November 2002"Rudy Giuliani and Judith Nathan Marriage Profile" , About.com. Accessed April 19, 2007. and married on May 24, 2003.Ruth La Ferla, "Vows: Judith Nathan and Rudolph W. Giuliani", The New York Times, May 25, 2003. Accessed April 19, 2007. The wedding was held at Gracie Mansion and was one of only two performed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The reception for 400 guests included figures from the political, entertainment, and fashion worlds. The couple had a $5 million apartment off Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side in Manhattan and a $4 million summer home in The Hamptons.
Rudy Giuliani frequently cited his wife as his "closest adviser", saying in 2007 that she remained "an expert we rely on" at his company, Giuliani Partners, where he has served as chairman and chief executive officer. "She gives us a lot of advice and a lot of help in areas where she's got a lot of expertise – biological and chemical. Since we do security work, that's an area of great concern – you know, another anthrax attack, a smallpox attack, chemical agents. She knows all of that." From shortly before their marriage until his presidential campaign began, Rudy Giuliani paid her an average of $125,000 per year for her professional value as a speechwriter.David Saltonstall, "Earning $125,000 a year", New York Daily News, May 18, 2007. Accessed May 21, 2007.Sarah Wheaton, "Spouses and Race", The New York Times, May 18, 2007. Accessed March 22, 2011.
Role in Giuliani presidential campaign
As Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign began in earnest in 2007, Judith Giuliani served as an advisor and fundraiser, but also came in for a new round of intense and often unflattering media attention. Her first marriage to Jeffrey Ross was revealed in the press for the first time, her educational background was clarified, and she appeared in a Barbara Walters interview on 20/20. During the interview, the Giulianis stated that she would sit in on Cabinet meetings were he elected, a plan that attracted criticism and that they later backed away from. There was controversy about her travel requirements and conflicts with Rudy Giuliani's aides. Media outlets portrayed her as someone aspiring to social status and given to extravagant shopping. An attempt by the campaign over summer 2007 to rehabilitate her image fell victim to internal tensions, and instead her public appearances were scaled back. Rudy Giuliani said that Judith Giuliani proved a capable fund-raiser who provided meaningful input on his policies, particularly those pertaining to health care, since she holds a two-year nursing degree and once sold pharmaceuticals.
On April 4, 2018, it was announced that Judith Giuliani had filed for divorce from her husband, Rudy Giuliani. The divorce was settled on December 10, 2019. On August 2, 2022, it was announced that Judith Giuliani had hired attorney Dror Bikel and filed a lawsuit against former husband for non-compliance regarding the divorce settlement.
Fundraising and charitable work
In March 2001, desiring less travel and reduced public visibility, Nathan left Bristol-Myers and became a fund-raiser and later the managing director of Changing Our World, an international fundraising and philanthropic services company headquartered in New York that helps not-for-profit groups raise money for causes such as juvenile blindness and HIV/AIDS in Africa. She left the organization in 2006.