John Hess was born in 1954 to a Jewish family,We Are Many: Reflections On American Jewish History And Identity By Edward S Shapiro pages 123-124 | retrieved April 6, 2013New Jersey Star Ledger: "Norma Wilentz Hess" April 22, 2010 the son of Norma and Leon Hess. His father was the founder of the Hess Oil and Chemical Company which later became the Amerada Hess Corporation and is now known as the Hess Corporation. His maternal grandfather was the former attorney general David T. Wilentz, who prosecuted Bruno Richard Hauptmann in the Lindbergh baby kidnapping case. He has two sisters: Marlene Hess and former Pennsylvania State Senator, Constance H. Williams.New York Times: "Leon Hess, Who Built a Major Oil Company and Owned the Jets, Is Dead at 85" By GERALD ESKENAZI May 08, 1999
