I wonder why... Blinken was born on April 16, 1962, in Yonkers, New York, to Jewish parents, Judith (Frehm) and Donald M. Blinken, who later served as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary.[5][6][7] His maternal grandparents were Hungarian Jews.[8] Blinken's uncle, Alan Blinken, served as the American ambassador to Belgium.[9][10] His paternal grandfather, Maurice Henry Blinken, was an early backer of Israel who studied its economic viability,[11] and his great-grandfather was Meir Blinken, a Yiddish writer.[12]