Obama and Berkshire's Buffett Are Cousins, Ancestry.com Says

c.2009 Bloomberg News

Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The political links between investor Warren Buffett and President Barack Obama turn out to be a family affair, according to Ancestry.com, an online genealogical service.

The president and the chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. are seventh cousins three times removed, related through a 17th-century Frenchman named Mareen Duvall, Ancestry.com said in a statement released today.

"Like most family members, the president and Buffett may not always agree on everything, but this latest discovery confirming they are related may shed light on why the two seem to see eye-to-eye on many issues," Anastasia Tyler, a genealogist for the Provo, Utah-based company, said in the statement.

Buffett was co-host of a fund-raiser for Obama during the campaign and served as one of his advisers.

Duvall immigrated to Maryland in the 1650s, settling in Anne Arundel County, and was considered a political conservative in his day, according to the statement.

In addition to Buffett, the company has also determined Obama is the ninth cousin of actor Brad Pitt. Ancestry.com has discovered that the African-American president has roots in Ireland and Germany as well as Kenya, according to the statement.

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