Jeff Bezos’ mother, early Amazon investor, dies at 78

Jackie Bezos, mother of Jeff Bezos and an early investor in Amazon, has died at the age of 78. 

Jackie gave birth to Jeff at 17 and for a time raised him alone.

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, said in an Instagram post that his mother died Thursday in Miami after living with Lewy body dementia.

“She pounced on the job of loving me with ferocity, brought my amazing dad onto the team a few years later, and then added my sister and brother to her list of people to love, guard and nourish,” Bezos said.

“She always gave so much more than she ever asked for,” he added.

Born Jacklyn Gise, she became pregnant at 16 while a high school sophomore in Albuquerque, N.M. She married boyfriend Ted Jorgensen, 18, in July 1963, but the marriage ended in less than two years. With help from her parents, she was able to complete her education.

In 1968, she planned to marry Miguel (Mike) Bezos, a Cuban immigrant she met while they both worked at a local bank. Mike later adopted Jeff, and the family moved to Houston and then Miami as Mike worked as a petroleum engineer, including for Exxon. They went on to have two more children, Mark and Christina.

Jorgensen agreed to her request not to be involved in Jeff’s life. He learned about his son’s success decades later when author Brad Stone contacted him for his 2013 book The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon.

“Your son is one of the most successful businessmen on the planet,” Stone said he told a surprised Jorgensen, who was then running a bicycle shop in Arizona. Jorgensen died in 2015 at age 70.

According to Stone’s book, Jackie was cautious when Jeff decided to leave a well-paying New York hedge fund job in the early 1990s to start the company that became Amazon. She even asked if it could be done on nights and weekends. Despite her concerns, she and Mike were early investors, contributing about $250,000 in two installments by 1995.

ALSO READ TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE