- Source of Wealth: United States Army
- Age: 67
- Birth Place: Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, U.S.
- Height: 1.75 m (5′ 9″)
- Marital Status: Married (Holly Knowlton)
- Full Name: David Howell Petraeus AO
- Nationality: American
- Date of Birth: November 7, 1952
- Ethnicity: Frisian, German, Welsh, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, Dutch, English, Scottish and English
- Occupation: Retired United States Army General and Public Official
- Education: U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Army Command, Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
- Children: 2 (Anne and Stephen)
David Petraeus is a retired US public official and retired US military official. He was born at Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York on November 7, 1952. His father was a librarian, who had sailed to the USA at the beginning of World War II.
David went to the US Military Academy at West Point. He was also a part of the intercollegiate ski and soccer teams and was a distinguished cadet. In the academy yearbook, he was remembered as the one who took great interest in sports, academics, leadership and also had a great social life.
When David was a cadet, he started dating the Army General’s daughter, whom he married after graduation. David and his wife have one son and a daughter. His son later went on to serve in Afghanistan in the Army. During his entire military career, he has served many high-profile positions and has got many accolades as recognition and contribution to the military.
He has acquired his wealth from the top positions held in the Army. David served as the Chief of Navy Operations, Joint Chief of Staffs, and also the Air Force Chief. He allegedly had an affair with the author of his biography Paula Broadwell. He, however, ended the affair, the moment he came to know that Paula has been sending harassing emails to a very close associate and family friend of Petraeus. In 2011, he was nominated as the new Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Director of National Intelligence had asked him to resign and Barack Obama also accepted his resignation. He was often able to influence military relations because of his good relationship with the Press.
In 2009, he was detected with prostate cancer and was under two month’s radiation treatment.