George John Tenet was born on January 5, 1953, in Flushing, Queens, New York City, New York, the son of Greek immigrants Evangelia and John Tenet.[1] His father, a Greek born in modern-day southern Albania, worked in a coal mine in France before arriving in the United States via Ellis Island just before the Great Depression. His mother was a Greek from Epirus, Greece who had fled from the communists by stowing away on a British submarine.[2] Tenet was raised in Little Neck, Queens, where as a teenager, he and his older brother Bill worked as busboys in their family's diner, the Twentieth Century Diner. Despite Bill and George beingfraternal twins, both had different personalities; in his book Ghost Wars, Steve Coll described Bill as "reserved, precise, and studious" (he would later become a cardiologist) and George as "loud, sloppy, and boisterous."[2] Because of his tendency to talk constantly he was known as "the mouthpiece." Sol Winder, a family friend and later owner of their diner, said he was "the type of guy who could never keep a secret."[3] He was also interested in the news; the host of a local current affairs host sent him an autograph in response to Tenet's letters, calling him "the future editorial page editor of The New York Times."[2] He played basketball and softball for his Greek Orthodox church, where he was also an altar server.[3]
He attended Public School 94, where he was president of his sixth grade class;[3] Junior High School 67; and Benjamin N. Cardozo High School.[4] In high school he played soccer and edited the school newspaper, graduating in 1971.[3] After studying at the State University of New York at Cortland,[5] Tenet graduated from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in 1976 with a Bachelor of Science degree in foreign service and received a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University in 1978.[4][6]
Tenet is married to A. Stephanie Glakas-Tenet.[a] They have one son, John Michael