Karen Backfisch Olufsen is best known as the long-time partner and first wife of TV personality Jim Cramer, and as a former trader who worked at prominent hedge funds in New York. She stepped out of the public spotlight after leaving full-time trading and raising a family.
Karen Backfisch Olufsen Biography Table
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Karen Backfisch Olufsen |
| Known For | Former Wall Street trader, first wife of Jim Cramer |
| Profession | Hedge fund trader (former) |
| Education | Not publicly disclosed |
| Age | Not publicly disclosed |
| Birthplace | United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Marital Status | Divorced |
| Ex-Husband | Jim Cramer (m. 1988, div. 2009) |
| Children | Two daughters |
| Net Worth | Estimated in the low millions (private, not publicly confirmed) |
| Current Status | Living a private life away from media attention |
| Public Presence | Very limited |
How she built her career in trading
Early in her career Karen Backfisch Olufsen worked as a trader at Michael Steinhardt’s firm, a high-profile place to learn the markets. That experience gave her real trading chops and introduced her to a circle of influential finance people.
People who wrote about her in the business press respected her market instincts. In some profiles she earned nicknames that hinted at her reputation for sharp calls and market timing. Those write-ups helped shape how others in finance remembered her.
The family side: marriage and kids
She married Jim Cramer in 1988 and they were together for about two decades before divorcing in 2009. The marriage and its timeline show why she is often referenced in pieces about Cramer’s life and career.
The couple raised two daughters, Cecelia and Emma, and Backfisch-Olufsen later chose to keep family life more private than her former hedge fund peers. That move explains the limited personal details public sources can reliably confirm.
Why the media still mentions her
When writers profile Jim Cramer they regularly mention Karen Backfisch Olufsen because she played a real role in the trading world that shaped parts of his career. She shows up as a meaningful figure in the backstory rather than a tabloid personality.
Other articles highlight her as an example of someone who shifted priorities from the trading floor to family life. That contrast is a tidy human angle for journalists covering finance personalities.
What she’s doing now — the public picture
Publicly available information suggests Karen Backfisch Olufsen has kept a low profile after leaving full-time trading. There are occasional magazine or biography pieces, but she does not maintain a large public presence or active social profiles tied to finance.
Because she values privacy, many contemporary write-ups focus on confirmed career highlights and family facts rather than speculation. That makes the reliable, sourced details more valuable to anyone researching her.
Final take: why she matters
Karen Backfisch Olufsen matters because she represents a generation of traders who shaped Wall Street in the 1980s and 1990s and then chose a quieter life. Her career and choices give context to Jim Cramer’s early story and to how corner offices and family priorities sometimes collide.
If you want to dig deeper, the best places to start are profiles of Jim Cramer that mention her trading role and older magazine features about traders from Steinhardt’s era. Those pieces carry the most historically useful details.
