Rohan Anthony Marley was born on 19 May 1972, in Kingston, Jamaica, the son of the late reggae legend Bob Marley and club dancer Janet Hunt. He is a former American and Canadian Football player, and an entrepreneur probably best known for founding the company Marley Coffee.
So just how rich is Rohan Marley? Sources state that Marley has earned a net worth of over $20 million, as of mid-2016. His wealth has mostly been established through his involvement in the coffee and clothing businesses.
Rohan Marley Net Worth $20 Million
Marley was born at the time when his father was married to singer Rita Marley. Not being properly taken care of by his mother, Marley moved in with his father’s family at the age of four, however, after his father died of cancer in 1981, Marley was adopted and raised by his grandmother on his father’s side, Cedella Booker. He attended Miami Palmetto Senior High School in Pinecrest, Florida, and later enrolled at the University of Miami, located in Coral Gables, Florida, to study Sociology. While their, he joined its football team the Miami Hurricanes, playing as a linebacker and leading the team with 95 tackles in 1993. He would later go on to play professionally for the Canadian Football League team, the Ottawa Rough Riders.
After the death of his father, Marley received $200,000 from a publishing deal for his father’s music. With a desire to fulfill his father’s dream of farming, in 1999 he bought a 52-acre farm in Chepstowe, Portland, Jamaica, and in the following years he traveled to Ethiopia, where he learned about the coffee business. Upon his return to the USA, Marley began sourcing coffee beans from all around the world, and soon learned that his property in the Jamaican Blue Mountains was also able to produce a quality coffee. Therefore, in 2009 he launched the company called Marley Coffee and began distributing the products on the west coast, produced from Marley’s property, while also bought from other countries, mostly from Ethiopia, with the products being either organic or Rainforest Alliance certified.
The business grew rapidly and was expanded across the country as well as to Canada. Marley Coffee has been sold in Bob Marley-inspired names such as One Love, Lively Up! and Get Up, Stand Up. It has been sold as beans, ground coffee as well as single-serve cups. In 2011, Marley Coffee went public under the name Jammin Java Corp, and today the products are available in 61 grocery store chains across the USA, and 14 in Canada, plus being distributed in Mexico, Colombia, Chile and South Korea. The company’s revenue in its first year was $37,000, but by 2013 it had expanded to $6 million, and today the company makes more than $10 million in annual revenues, which has enabled Marley to amass a significant personal wealth. It has also brought him additional fame, as he has been featured on The Daily Beast, Fox News, MSNBC, InStyle, Food & Wine, The Guardian, etc.
Aside from his coffee business, Marley has also carried on his father’s legacy by launching the Tuff Gong Clothing Company, named after his father’s music label, Tuff Gong International. Additionally, he has served as the Director and primary spokesperson for a sustainable electronic equipment company called The House of Marley, which produces Eco-friendly products such as headphones, earbuds, speakers, etc., and which has also added to his net worth.
The entrepreneur has appeared in the documentaries “Dreadland”, “Motherland” and “Marley Africa Roadtrip”, as his interest in music and his father’s legacy continues.
In his personal life, Marley married Geraldine Khawly in 1993, with whom he has two children. After his divorce from Khawly in 1996, he started dating the artist Lauryn Hill from the band Fugees. Although they never married, the couple has five children together. They separated in 2009. Marley was later engaged to Brazilian supermodel Isabeli Fontana, but they separated in 2013. Sources believe he is single at present.
Marley is a devoted philanthropist. He has been a member of his family’s charitable organization called 1Love, an organization focused on creating a more sustainable planet, helping youth through music and funding various charities.
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