Jose Menendez was born to a prosperous family in Havana, Cuba. His father was a well-known soccer player who owned his own accounting firm. His mother was a swimmer who had been elected to Cuba's sports hall of fame. Although the family was not among the elite, Jose's parents were celebrity athletes and he and his two sisters wanted for nothing. But in 1959, this seemingly idyllic life was uprooted. Fidel Castro overthrew the ruling government and seized the property of the wealthy and upper-middle class. In 1960, a 16 year-old Jose left the country to live in the United States, flying with his sister's fiancé. In high school, he was a high achiever and won an athletic scholarship, but could not afford to attend an Ivy League college. While attending Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, he met his future wife, Mary Louise Anderson, nicknamed Kitty to those who knew her. They married in 1964. After graduating, he passed the CPA exam and he became a successful businessman. In all of his workplaces, he was credited with being an highly intelligent and diligent, but was widely disliked as arrogant and rude to co-workers and abrasive to subordinates. He became the father of two sons, Lyle Menendez and Erik Menendez, and was a stern and demanding father. He was also an unfaithful husband, with a string of mistresses. His family moved to southern California and he became an executive for RCA, and became acquainted with a number of show business celebrities. But he was experiencing marital problems and his relationship with both sons was deteriorating. In 1989, while he and his wife were watching television, they were shot to death by their sons.
