Stewart, Martha

Martha Stewart (1941– ), an American writer and businesswoman, was a very popular and influential celebrity in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a virtual media icon who ran afoul of the law and served prison time. Stewart was born on August 3, 1941, in Jersey City, New Jersey, and when Martha was 3 years old, her parents, Edward Kostyra and Martha Kostyra, moved her and her five other siblings to Nutley, New Jersey. Because of her legendarily strong work ethic and character, she received a partial scholarship to Barnard College in New York City. To pay the remainder of her tuition, she worked as a model for television commercials and magazines. At Barnard College, she met her husband Andrew Stewart, and they married during ...