Cindy McCain Net Worth & Biography
Net worth $100 million! Such is the current estimate of wealth possessed by Cindy Lou Hensley McCain, an American philanthropist and highly efficient business woman, endowed with a strong and charismatic personality. Controversial at times, subject to permanent public scrutiny, she has still managed to win recognition for her outstanding social activity.
What parent wouldn’t wish his child to be born with a silver spoon? While Arizona folks enjoyed sipping cool beer from Anheuser-Busch breweries, her father did his best to quench their thirst, gradually making it to the top in the beer-distribution business long before Cindy had entered this world in Phoenix, Arizona on May 20, 1954 as the only daughter to James and Marguerite Hensley. James founded Hensley & Co., which was profitable enough to grant the family affluent standards of living as well as Cindy’s education. After finishing Central High School in 1972, Cindy left Phoenix for the University of Southern California, graduating from it with a Bachelor of Arts in education in 1976 and a Master of Arts in special education in 1978.
Her academic years were marked with both social activities and work as a special education teacher. The latter experience resulted in the publication of her study “Movement Therapy: A Possible Approach”, aimed to improve the existing treatment standards of severely disabled children. Strong charity traditions of her social stratum and her personal commitment led to the foundation of American Voluntary Medical Team (AVMT) in 1988, a non-profit organization which provided medical help in Micronesia, Vietnam, Iraq, Nicaragua, India, Bangladesh, etc.
Then in 1995 the Hensley Family Foundation was established. In subsequent years she frequented war and poverty stricken regions in third-world countries as a board-member of Operation Smile, Eastern Congo Initiative and HALO Trust. Her attention focused on humanitarian aid, global economical crises, and struggles with sex-trafficking. After her father’s death, she gained the controlling position at Hensley & Co. as its chair. That has greatly expanded both her assets and opportunities for donating to several humanitarian projects, home and abroad.
Presuming that a woman’s marriage equals her birth in consequences, Fate favored Cindy by presenting her with a second silver spoon on May 17, 1980, when her wedding to John McCain took place. Since 1984 the couple has been blessed with three children, and the fourth, a victim of the Bangladesh cyclone, was adopted in 1991. Meanwhile, Cindy continued to support her husband both morally and financially on his way towards the apex of his political career as a Republican representative in the United States Senate, followed by his nominations for presidential candidate in 2000 and 2008.
Unfortunately, even the most admirable ones occasionally walk under clouds. Soon after her wedding to a freshly divorced John McCain, her social life was overshadowed by his ex-wife Caroline, whose influence and popularity initially added much to Cindy being rejected by The White House community. Nor can her reputation be claimed entirely spotless. During exhaustive service at AVMT (1988–1995) she developed an addiction to pain-killers due to recurrent severe migraines, opting for illegally prescribed medicine. However, she regretted her misconduct publicly, proclaiming her will to help pain-sufferers with similar addiction face and combat it. Also, the McCains were involved in the Keating Five bank scandal.
Still speaking of clouds… it seems like most of them had a silver lining for her, as she kept pursuing her goals with stamina and perseverance. More than once she has been compared to Mother Teresa and Lady Diane.
In the end, great givers become great gainers.
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