Venter thinks charismatic leadership might be in his blood. “When I look at my genetic past, my father’s parents were Mormons, not just Mormons but the strongest evangelical leaders. They were very fervent.” If he had been less educated, he said, he might have put his energies into religion. “In Germany they wanted to know if I was going to start a religion around what I had accomplished. I thought they were kidding, but they were deadly serious.” His longtime personal assistant, Heather Kowalski, told me, “I’ve always thought that it would be easy for Craig to start a cult.”
