“We were all so lucky to be in her life,” Jeff wrote, in part, in his Instagram statement that day. “I hold her safe in my heart forever. I love you, mom.”
Keep reading to learn more about Jeff’s late mother, Jackie, including her life, career, motherhood and health.
As Jeff pointed out in his Instagram tribute, Jackie became a mom when she was 17 years old. According to the Bezos Scholars Program’s website, Jackie juggled night classes with motherhood after high school, then got a job working at a bank to provide for herself and Jeff. It was at her job where she met husband Miguel “Mike” Bezos, and they got married in April 1968.
“Her adulthood started a little bit early when she became my mom at the tender age of 17,” Jeff wrote in his social media post, adding, “That couldn’t have been easy, but she made it all work. She pounced on the job of loving me with ferocity, brought my amazing dad [Miguel] onto the team a few years later, and then added my sister and brother to her list of people to love, guard, and nourish.”
The Amazon founder added that Jackie “always gave so much more than she ever asked for.”
Jackie was diagnosed with a form of dementia called Lewy Body Dementia in 2020. As the Bezos Scholars Program website indicates, the illness is a progressive neurological disorder, which Jackie “battled with the same dignity and courage that shaped every aspect of her life.”
When she was 45, Jackie went back to school to obtain her undergraduate degree. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology in 1991 from New Jersey’s Saint Elizabeth University.
In addition to leading the Bezos Family Foundation, Jackie also partnered with Seattle’s Fred Hutch Cancer Center to support immunotherapy treatment efforts.
