Josh Shapiro

Joshua David Shapiro (born June 20, 1973) is an American lawyer and Democratic politician serving as the 48th Governor of Pennsylvania since January 2023.

The Shapiro family relocated from Missouri to Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where Joshua was raised in the suburb of Dresher. He grew up in an observant Jewish household that emphasized community service, influenced by his parents' professional commitments to medicine and education. This environment fostered early values of public service and faith, shaping his formative years in the Philadelphia suburbs.

During high school at Akiba Hebrew Academy (now Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy) in Merion Station, Pennsylvania, Shapiro participated in a required community service project in Israel. He and classmates spent time on a kibbutz, working on a farm and at a fishery, and volunteered on service projects at an Israeli army base. According to his 2024 spokesperson, at no time was he engaged in any military activities. In a 1993 op-ed published in the University of Rochester's Campus Times titled "Peace Not Possible," the 20-year-old Shapiro referred to himself as "a past volunteer in the Israeli army" and noted in his bio that he "spent five months studying in Israel and volunteered in the Israeli army." When the op-ed resurfaced in 2024 amid speculation about his potential vice-presidential candidacy, Shapiro distanced himself from the youthful phrasing, stating "I was 20," and his team emphasized the non-military nature of the high school program. Shapiro attended the University of Rochester, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1995, graduating magna cum laude. During his time there, he served as president of the Students' Association, becoming the first freshman elected to that position in university history. He initially pursued pre-medical studies but shifted to political science after difficulties with organic chemistry in his freshman year.

Shapiro married Lori Shapiro in 1997; the couple met while attending the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, a Jewish day school. They have four children—Sophia (born circa 2001), Jonah, Max, and Reuben—all of whom attended Jewish day school. Lori Shapiro has worked as a trained parenting educator, applying her expertise within their family and community.