Jackie Bezos, Jeff Bezos’ mother and one of the first investors in Amazon, died on Thursday in Miami. She was 78.
Mr. Bezos said on social media that his mother had Lewy body dementia, a neurological disorder.
In 1995, Ms. Bezos and her husband invested just over $245,000 in Amazon, the online bookstore that her son founded in 1994. It grew to become one of the world’s most valuable companies, valued today at almost $2.5 trillion.
Ms. Bezos was born in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 29, 1946. She was raised in Albuquerque, where she had her first child, Jeff, at 17.
“Her adulthood started a little bit early when she became my mom at the tender age of 17. That couldn’t have been easy, but she made it all work,” Mr. Bezos said.
While attending night school and working in a bank, she met her second husband, Miguel Bezos, to whom she was married for nearly 60 years until her death and who adopted Jeff. They had two other children, Christina and Mark.
Ms. Bezos was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia in 2020, the Bezos Family Foundation said in a statement.
She is survived by her husband, her three children, eleven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild, the family foundation said.
Francesca Regalado is a Times reporter covering breaking news.
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