Gave Birth to Jeff Bezos at 17
Served as Chairperson After Founding a Scholarship Foundation
Jackie Bezos, the mother of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and an early investor in Amazon, has passed away at the age of 78.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder, posted the news of his mother Jackie Bezos's passing on Instagram. Screenshot from Jeff Bezos's Instagram.
The New York Times reported on August 14 (local time) that Jackie Bezos, who had been suffering from dementia, has died. On the same day, Jeff Bezos announced on his Instagram that "my mother, who fought Lewy body dementia for a long time, passed away surrounded by her loving family."
Jackie Bezos was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia in 2020. This disease, which causes slowed physical movement similar to Parkinson's disease, is the second most common degenerative brain disorder after Alzheimer's disease.
Jackie Bezos was also an early investor, contributing $245,000 (approximately 340 million KRW) shortly after her son founded the online bookstore Amazon. Amazon's current corporate value stands at $2.5 trillion (about 3,500 trillion KRW).
Born in Washington, D.C. in 1946 and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Jackie gave birth to her first child, Jeff, at the age of 17 while still in high school. Later, she worked at a bank during the day and attended night school with baby Jeff, where she met and married her current husband, Miguel Bezos, a Cuban immigrant.
At the age of 45, she returned to college and earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the College of Saint Elizabeth in New Jersey. In 2000, she and her husband established the Bezos Family Foundation, where she served as chairperson.
Jeff Bezos also expressed his affection for his mother by naming Blue Origin's rocket recovery drone ship "Jacklyn" after her.
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