Is Geraldo Rivera Jewish?

Yes, attorney, journalist, writer, reporter and former talk show host Geraldo Rivera is a Jew. Rivera has worked with distinction for 40 years in TV journalism and entertainment. He has hosted the program Geraldo at Large, and appears on Fox News Channel.

In February 2013 Rivera disclosed that he was considering running for the Senate as a Republican candidate in New Jersey.

Rivera was born July 4, 1943 at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City (where this blogger was born some years later). He is the son of Lillian (née Lillie Friedman), a waitress and a cashier for the E. J. Korvettes store in Massapequa, N.Y., and the late Cruz "Allen" Rivera (October 1, 1915 - November 1987), who managed a kitchen at Republic Aviation, formerly in Farmingdale, N.Y. Rivera's father was Puerto Rican of Spanish ancestry and his mother is of Ashkenazi Russian Jewish descent. According to Wikipedia, Rivera was raised "mostly Jewish" and had a Bar Mitzvah.

We met Geraldo's wife Erica one time {10/4/2010) at the JCC on the Palisades where she served on the board of directors (and swims laps in the pool). The couple resides in Edgewater, N.J., with their young child.