There’s something about the Kennedys. It could be the name and accompanying brand; it could be a real current of talent and ambition that runs in the family; it could be the enormous hoard of inherited wealth that Joseph Kennedy’s progeny continues to benefit from.

Whatever it is, there’s not a decade goes by that one of the Kennedys doesn’t throw his or her hat into the ring for some form of political office. This year, it’s Chris Kennedy, Chicago businessman and son of slain former attorney general and one-time presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, who in February announced his intention to run for governor of Illinois.

Known as “the quiet Kennedy,” Chris Kennedy for decades ignored the siren song of politics that many of his siblings succumbed to, opting instead to become a successful businessman and philanthropist. Kennedy was best known as the head of Merchandise Mart Properties Inc., the company which owned Chicago’s Merchandise Mart, the massive office building and high-end retail space in the city’s downtown, as well as for developing Wolf Point, the Kennedy family’s real estate holdings in Chicago. Among other things, he also chairs the family’s investment firm Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises and chaired the Board of the Trustees of the University of Illinois from 2009 to 2015. (The Kennedy campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this story.)