Jackie Bezos, a fierce defender of his son Jeff before he foundes Amazon.com, and a philanthropist of kindergarten, died at age 78.
According to the Bezos Family Foundation website, Jackie died last Thursday (14) at his home in Miami. In a tribute published on social networks, Jeff Bezos stated that the mother died “surrounded by so many of us that we loved her,” after “a long struggle against dementia with Lewy bodies.”
Beside her husband, Miguel Bezos, Jackie was Amazon’s first investor. In 1995, the couple signed two checks totaling $ 245,573 to finance the startup that, according to Jeff himself, would probably fail. The investment – along with later purchases of the company – resulted in an estimated fortune of up to $ 30 billion in 2018.
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From 2000 – long before the son or Amazon created their own philanthropic initiatives – Jackie and Miguel began to fund educational programs through Bezos Family Foundation, which for years was the main showcase of philanthropy associated with the fortune generated by the e -commerce giant.
“At the Foundation’s Center for the Foundation’s work is Jackie’s belief that strict and inspiring learning – within the classroom and in hundreds of daily interactions of children with adults – will allow students, from birth to high school, to put their education into practice,” says the organization’s website.
The Foundation attributes to Jackie to the creation of two own programs: VROOM, which distributes tips to parents by application and other channels, and Bezos Scholars Program, which annually selects 17 young people from the US and Africa for a leadership development program.
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The institution has already supported hundreds of other organizations, with main focus on children and youth. In August 2024, he made his biggest individual donation: US $ 185.7 million to the Aspen Institute to create a new center for youth.
Origins and Family Life
Jacklyn Marie Gise was born in Virginia on December 29, 1946, and grew up in New Mexico, where her father, Lawrence Preston Gise, was a high employee of the US atomic energy commission, which was responsible for the country’s nuclear laboratories.
In the second year of high school, in Albuquerque, he became pregnant with Theodore Jorgensen, veteran of the school. They married in 1963 and the following January was born Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen. Jackie returned to live with her parents and asked for divorce when her son was 17 months old.
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Jorgensen, who would become a tenthist pole player and a bicycle store owner, admitted that he was not a good father or husband. “It was all my fault,” he told journalist Brad Stone in The Everything Store (2013). “I don’t blame Jackie for anything.” He died in 2015.
Newly sostalty, Jackie was able to complete high school after accepting conditions imposed by the school, such as not talking to colleagues or attending graduation. Then he entered community higher education, seeking teachers to accept that she would take her young son to classes.
New Wedding and Support to Jeff
While working in the Bank of New Mexico accounting sector, he met Miguel Bezos, a Cuban student who had arrived in the US at the age of 16 as a refugee. After several refusal, he accepted an invitation to see the novice rebel. They married in April 1968 and moved to Texas, where Miguel acted as an oil engineer at Exxon. They had two children: Christina (1969) and Mark (1970).
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Jeff was adopted by Miguel and started using the surname Bezos. Jackie created a home marked by board games, scientific projects and narratives, and stood out as the main defender and supporter of his son.
When Jeff was 3 years old and dismantled his crib to sleep in a bed, Jackie managed to put him on a pilot program for gifted in Houston, and repeated the strategy after the change to thought in Florida.
“You don’t just go away. You don’t give up. It’s still trying to convince people,” he said once.
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She also took him regularly to Radio Shack to buy electronic parts.
With Miguel’s career advancing, the family moved to Miami, where Jeff completed high school. The work took the couple to Norway and Colombia. During a season in New Jersey, Jackie, at age 40, graduated from the College of Saint Elizabeth.
When Jeff left his job on a New York Hedge fund to found Amazon, parents have invested much of their economies in business – a bet on their son more than on an online bookstore. After the 1997 IPO, Jackie used to buy magazines and leave them open on the pages with reports about Jeff.
Life in Seattle and Philanthropy
In 2000, already retired, Jackie and Miguel moved to the Seattle region to be near Jeff’s family. She started writing articles defending early childhood education and donated to causes such as the creation of charter schools in the state of Washington.
The couple was also one of the biggest donors of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, including a $ 710 million donation by 2022, made outside the foundation.
In recent years, they have divided the time between houses in Colorado, Texas and Miami.
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