Family
The Family
Munger married twice, buried a young son, and built a large blended household — most often summarized as eight children — that he counted among the things he got right in life.
The arithmetic of the Munger family is the arithmetic of a second act. His first marriage gave him three children and then ended; soon after, leukemia took his young son. His second marriage, to a woman with two sons of her own, lasted more than half a century and added four more children. The household that resulted — his children, her two sons, and the four they had together — is the one usually described, in shorthand, as eight children.
First marriage: Nancy Huggins
Munger married Nancy Huggins in 1945, while he was studying at Caltech; they divorced in 1953. They had three children: Wendy Munger, Molly Munger, and Teddy Munger. Shortly after the divorce, Teddy was diagnosed with leukemia — then untreatable — and died at the age of nine. The loss is among the most retold facts of Munger’s life: he is said to have visited his dying son and then walked the streets of Pasadena weeping.
Second marriage: Nancy Barry Borthwick
In 1956 Munger married Nancy Barry Borthwick, a Stanford graduate. The marriage lasted until her death on February 6, 2010, at the age of eighty-six. She brought two sons into the family — William Harold Borthwick and David Borthwick, Munger’s stepsons.
Their four children together
Charlie and Nancy had four biological children of their own:
- Charles T. Munger Jr. — a physicist.
- Emilie Munger Ogden.
- Barry A. Munger.
- Philip R. Munger.
Counted together — his three from the first marriage, her two sons, and their four together — the family is the one commonly referred to as eight children.