Founding Chairman of Morgan-Joseph TriArtisan

John Adams Morgan | Biography 2021

Ex-husband of 'Real Housewives of New York' Star Sonja Morgan

• By Chetana
• Update : June 10, 2021

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John Adams Morgan is an American sailing Olympic champion and the founding chairman of Morgan-Joseph TriArtisan.

Who is John Adams Morgan?

John Adams Morgan is an American businessman and is famously known to be a descendent of former U.S. Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Morgan’s fourth wife was Sonja Morgan, a star of the reality tv Real Housewives of New York.

Morgan was born to a family of bankers; his grandfather J.P. Morgan was a successful investment banker, and his great-grandfather was a founder of the financial institution Moran-Stanley.

Morgan went to Yale to complete his bachelor’s degree and acquired a gold medal at the Helsinki Summer Olympics. After graduation, he worked at Dominick & Dominick for a decade and was the vice-chairman at Smith and Barney. After that, he established his own brokering company in 1982, and after its success, he founded an investment company in 2002.

Early Age and Ancestors

John Adams Morgan was born on 17 September 1930 in Oyster Bay, Long Island. His father was Henry Sturgis Morgan (1900–1982), and his mother was Catherine Frances Lovering Adams (1902–1988).

From his father’s side, his great-grandfather was J.P Morgan, who was in charge of corporate finance on Wall Street during the Gilded Age. J.P. had also founded J.P. Morgan & Co, an investment bank, while his father, Henry Morgan, co-founded Morgan Stanley, another financial institution.

Then from his mother’s side, his grandparents were Frances Lovering and Charles Francis Adams III, the U.S. Secretary of the Navy under 31st U.S. president Helbert Hoover and a direct descendant of U.S. Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams.

Morgan graduated from the Groton School in 1949. After that, he went to Yale University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1953. While at Yale, he competed in the Helsinki Summer Olympics in 1952 with the boat Llanoria. He earned a gold medal in the 6-meter class.

Career

Morgan began working at the financial business Dominick & Dominick shortly after graduating from college in 1956. In his decade-long service to the firm, he was also positioned as a partner till he left in 1966.

Then Morgan went on to become the vice-chairman of the financial services business Smith Barney. He worked in Barney till he founded his own retail and brokerage firm, Morgan Lewis Githens & Ahn, Inc., (MLGA), in 1982.

MLGA was immensely successful in its field. One of its profitable businesses was when it arranged a leveraged acquisition of Olin Ecusta’s cigarette paper business with the Olin Corporation, an industrial chemical company based in Stamford, Connecticut. In 1987, the business aided $450 million cash and stock acquisition of Service America Corporation from Alleco Incorporation.

Further, in 2001, the firm and Morgan’s broker-dealer license were purchased by an independent investment company. Then John F. Sorte became the president and CEO, while Morgan became the chairman of the board of directors of MLGA.

After that, Morgan co-founded a succeeding company, Morgan Joseph & Co. Inc., (MJC) in 2002 with Fred Joseph, who was a former president and chief executive officer of the financial bank Drexel Burnham Lambert.

MJC was an investment banking firm that specialized in working with middle-market corporations. The firm’s main concentration was on financial advising and capital raising services, such as mergers and acquisitions, stock and debt private placements, and initial public offerings. It also provided institutional equity and high-yielding clients with research and trading services.

Morgan said that his goal with MJC was to dramatically grow investment banking practice through a primary focus on middle-market companies to fill a hole left by the industry’s recent consolidation.

Then in December 2010, Morgan Joseph TriArtisan Group, Inc. was formed when MJC joined its business with Tri-Artisan Partners.

Personal Life And Net Worth

John Adam Morgan’s net worth has been a matter of public curiosity among the population who are aware of his costly divorce with actress Sonja Morgan.

While net worth analysis site Celebritynetworth predicts his estimated net worth to be $100 million, Morgan claimed in 2011 that he was “destitute” after Sonja filed for bankruptcy after she claimed that he owed her $3 million in the divorce settlement. However, he had compensated $300,000 in child support for their only child Quincy (daughter). 

A Four-time Divorcee 

John has been married to five partners and has three children. His fourth wife was the prominent star, Sonja Morgan. She joined the cast of Real Housewives of New York in 2010 and gained popularity with her personality on the show.

After Sonja filed bankruptcy in 2011, her bankruptcy-exit plan later alleged that Morgan owed her $3 million from their divorce settlement of 2008. It also stated that John Adams Morgan was “destitute, although he’s living on an island in the Long Island Sound. With JA Morgan approaching his mid-eighties, it appears he intends to live out his life without addressing his obligations under the Divorce Decree.”

Who are John Adams Morgan’s ex-wives?

In total, Morgan has been married five times. Elizabeth Robbins Choate was his first wife, whom he married in 1953. Before they divorced, they had a son named John Adams Morgan Jr.

Later, Tania Goss Morgan, a graduate of the Ethel Walker School and Vassar College’s class of ’59, became his second wife. They got married in 1962. They got divorced and had a son Chauncey Goss Morgan.

Morgan’s third wife was Anne Chute. With her, he did not have any children.

Sonja and John Adams Morgan

Morgan then married Sonja Tremont in 1998. He first met her at San Pietro of New York City, where she worked as a hostess. They eventually reconnected in Aspen.

According to Sonja, John was insistent on taking her out for dinner. They did go out together, and at the end of the night, he proposed.

Sonja recalled that romantic night when she found out that Morgan loved her, “He was relentless . . . and when he asked me out on a dinner date, finally, after he sent me a letter and flowers and chocolates, I said, ‘OK, let’s go to dinner.’ After the dinner, he proposed. He really loved me. He was perfect... I said, after dinner, ‘You’ve always loved me, really? Really? Really?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ I go, ‘What are you going to do, marry me?’ And he goes, ‘Yes.’ And then we talked about what kind of diamonds, and he said he had two sons, and I said, ‘No problem.’”

After getting married in 1987, they had their first child, Quincy Adams Morgan, in October of 2000. However, they got a divorce in 2008.

Sonja went on to star on Real Housewives of New York, joining in the third season of the show in 2010 and evolved to be one of the biggest personalities of the series. Morgan eventually remarried in 2010 to Connie H. Morgan.

Reason Behind Divorce

Although the reason behind Sonja and John’s divorce was not officially made public by the two, Sonja, in one of her interviews, later made a statement saying that they fell out of love and decided to divorce mutually. “We were in love and then we broke up. There was no drama. We still love each other and it was painful for both of us.”

Further on the Real housewives show, she added that it took her a long time to find happiness after divorcing Morgan, “I lost my best friend and a wonderful marriage. Is he dead? No. But for all intents and purposes, for me, he’s gone. I had to make a choice for my daughter and I feel so bad. Maybe I should have stayed with him and made sure she had everything she needed and got more time with me.”

Sonja filed for bankruptcy in 2011, claiming to be in debt of nearly $20 million. However, by 2015 she had already paid back the debt after liquidating assets and letting go of her savings. Then, her bankruptcy-exit plan alleged that Morgan owed her $3 million in the divorce settlement.

Despite their divorce, Sonja says she has great admiration and care for the Morgan family’s integrity. She also claims that she did not divorce the Morgan family, but they mutually agreed to divorce, and they both love their daughter.