NANTUCKET, Mass., May 26 -- Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and food fortune heiress Teresa Heinz were married Friday at the bride's mansion on the resort island of Nantucket, off the Massachusetts coast. Heinz, 56, is the widow of the late Pennsylvania Sen. John Heinz, who was killed in a 1991 plane crash.
She and Kerry, 51, began dating about two years ago. The civil ceremony was restricted to several dozen relatives of the bride and groom and was presided over by Boston federal Judge Richard Stearns, a close friend of President Clinton as well as Kerry and Heinz. Heinz, whose fortune has been estimated at $600 million, was born and raised in East Africa. She and Heinz were married for 25 years and had three children. Heinz now heads the Heinz family philanthropies, is co-chairwoman of the Environmental Defense Fund, a major lobbying group, and sits on boards of numerous cultural, educational and environmental organizations. Kerry, who is serving his second term as the state's junior senator, was a much decorated Vietnam war veteran who sprang to national attention in the 1970s as head of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. He was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and met Heinz through her husband. The couple announced their engagement in December, but there were reports that the marriage might be delayed or called off because Heinz was frustrated by Kerry's busy schedule. Kerry, who is widely expected to seek a third term in 1996, admitted there was a problem, but said he and Heinz were trying to work it out.