Jackie Bezos

Jacklyn Bezos
Born	Jacklyn Gise (1946-12-29) December 29, 1946 (age 78) United States
Other names	Jacklyn Jorgensen
Organization(s)	Amazon.com, Bezos Family Foundation
Spouses	Ted Jorgensen ​ ​ (m. 1963; div. 1965)​ Miguel Bezos ​ (m. 1968)​
Family	Jeff Bezos (son) Mark Bezos (son) Christina (daughter)

Jacklyn Bezos (née Gise, formerly Jorgensen; born December 29, 1946) is an American billionaire and philanthropist who provided the initial investment to launch Amazon.com. She is a co-founder of the Bezos Family Foundation.

She is the mother of Jeff Bezos and Mark Bezos, and the ex-wife of Ted Jorgensen.

Early life

Jacklyn Bezos was born as Jacklyn Gise on December 29, 1946^[1] to Lawrence Preston Gise who worked at Sandia National Laboratories.^[1] She grew up in Bernalillo, New Mexico^[1] and attended high school in Albuquerque.^[2]

In high school, Jacklyn dated unicyclist Ted Jorgensen. She became pregnant in 1963 when Jorgensen was 18 and she was 16, shortly before they got married in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. They had a second ceremony in the United States on July 19 the same year.^[1] Jacklyn gave birth to Jeff Bezos on January 12, 1964,^[1] two weeks after her 17th birthday.^[3] They named the child Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen at birth.^[4][1] Her high school sought to block her from graduating, but later relented, after banning her from socialising with other students.^[5][2]

Jacklyn's father paid for Jorgensen's school fees,^[5] as Jorgensen struggled financially^[1] and drank alcohol problematically.^[6] Jacklyn left Jorgensen to live with her parents, filing for divorce in June 1965 when Jeff was seventeen months old.^[7]

Adult life

After graduating from high school, Jacklyn worked as a secretary, earning $190 a month, and left her parents' home to rent an apartment, living with Jeff. She worked at day and attended night school in the evenings, taking Jeff to the classes.^[2]

Jacklyn met Cuban refugee^[2] Miguel Bezos at night school, later marrying him.^[5] Miguel Bezos, with Jorgensen's support, adopted Jeff.^[8] Jacklyn and Miguel Bezos relocated bringing Jeff with them and asked Jorgensen to discontinue contact, to which he agreed,^[8] relinquishing custody.^[9] The three moved to Houston, Texas.^[5]

Jacklyn Bezos gave birth to daughter Christina and then son Mark Bezos.^[10]

Twenty years after starting, Jacklyn graduated from Saint Elizabeth College at the age of 40.^[2]

In 1995, Jacklyn and Miguel loaned Jeff US$245,573 to start Amazon.com,^[11] giving them both 6% equity.^[12] Later they relocated to Florida.^[5]

Jacklyn and her husband are co-founders of,^[13] and major donors to, the Bezos Family Foundation.^[14] Through the foundation, they donated $710.5 million to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.^[15]

See also

• Jacklyn (ship), a Blue Origin ship named after Jacklyn Bezos, a landing platform vessel for rockets
• Jacklyn (barge), a Blue Origin barge named after Jacklyn Bezos, a landing platform vessel for rockets

• Family of Jeff Bezos

References

1. Brad Stone, (2013). The Everything Store. United States: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-21926-6
2. Clifford, Catherine (2019-06-14). "Jeff Bezos' single teen mom brought him to night school with her when he was a baby". CNBC. Archived from the original on 2021-01-28. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
3. Tom Robinson, (2009). Jeff Bezos: Amazon.com Architect. United States: ABDO Publishing ISBN 9781604537598
4. Barr, Alistair (October 10, 2013). "Bike shop owner discovers he's father of Amazon founder". USA Today. Archived from the original on March 27, 2023. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
5. Lipchik, Saul (2022-08-16). "Meet Jeff Bezos' billionaire parents, Jacklyn and Miguel 'Mike' Bezos". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2023-06-01. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
6. Stone, Brad (October 10, 2013). "The Secrets of Bezos: How Amazon Became the Everything Store". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on December 16, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
7. Brad Stone, (2013). The Everything Store. United States: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-21926-6
8. Barr, Alistair (October 10, 2013). "Bike shop owner discovers he's father of Amazon founder". USA Today. Archived from the original on March 27, 2023. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
9. "How Bike Shop Owner Discovered He Was Jeff Bezos' Dad". Inside Edition. January 2014. Archived from the original on March 27, 2023. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
10. "Meet Mark Bezos, accompanying big bro Jeff Bezos on his upcoming space flight". South China Morning Post. 2021-06-13. Archived from the original on 2023-03-22. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
11. Mejia, Zameena (2018-08-02). "Jeff Bezos got his parents to invest nearly $250,000 in Amazon in 1995 — they might be worth $30 billion today". CNBC. Archived from the original on 2023-05-22. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
12. Neate, Rupert (2018-04-25). "Jeff Bezos: the boy who wanted to colonise space". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
13. "Miguel Bezos". National Museum of American History. 2017-03-16. Archived from the original on 2020-12-24. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
14. Metcalf, Tom (2018-07-31). "A hidden Amazon fortune: Bezos' parents could be worth billions - BNN Bloomberg". BNN Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 2023-03-29. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
15. Mustak, Dayana (2022-10-12). "Bezos Family to Donate $711 Million to Cancer Center in Seattle". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 2023-07-01. Retrieved 2023-07-01.