Famous people named Kraft

Business

James L. Kraft (1874–1953), born in Ontario to a family of German descent, started selling cheese from a horse-drawn wagon in Chicago and built the company that became Kraft Foods; he patented a process for processed cheese in 1916. Robert Kraft (born 1941) is the owner of the New England Patriots.

Space and science

• Christopher C. Kraft Jr. (1924–2019), NASA's first flight director, who created Mission Control for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programmes.
• Robert Kraft (1927–2015), American astronomer, a different man from the Patriots owner.
• Jens Kraft (1720–1765), Norwegian mathematician and philosopher.
• Herbert C. Kraft (1927–2000), American archaeologist of the Lenape.

Art and music

• Adam Kraft (c. 1455–1509), Nuremberg sculptor whose tall stone sacrament house still stands in St. Lorenz church.
• Antonín Kraft (1749–1820), Czech cellist in Haydn's orchestra at Esterháza.
• Eric Kraft (born 1944), American novelist.

Space, philosophy and the arts

NASA's first flight director, Christopher C. Kraft Jr. (1924–2019), created Mission Control in Houston and ran the early Mercury and Gemini flights. The Austrian philosopher Victor Kraft (1880–1975) belonged to the Vienna Circle, and the cellist Nikolaus Kraft (1778–1853), son of Antonín, played for Beethoven. Sport has Austrian ski jumper Stefan Kraft (born 1993), a world champion and former holder of the ski-flying distance record, and Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (born 2000). In Scandinavia, the Swedish news anchor Anders Kraft (born 1968) and Danish politician Ole Bjørn Kraft (1893–1980), a foreign minister, carry the name too.

Politics

Hannelore Kraft (born 1961) was Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, from 2010 to 2017.

As a nickname for a strong man, Kraft arose in many places; these bearers are not one family, and arms belonged to individual lines. Learn about the name on our Kraft coat of arms page or start researching with Kraft family history and genealogy.