Jeff Bezos’ mother, Jacklyn Gise Bezos, died Thursday after a long fight with Lewy body dementia, the Amazon founder announced. She was 78.
Jacklyn Bezos was surrounded by family when she died at her Miami home, her son wrote in a touching Instagram tribute.
“Her adulthood started a little bit early when she became my mom at the tender age of 17,” the 61-year-old billionaire wrote in the post.
“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 onto the team a few years later, and then added my sister and brother to her list of people to love, guard, and nourish,” his post said.
An obituary posted to the “Bezos Scholars Program” remembered the one-time single mother as a lifetime educator who was focused on nurturing and growing children’s minds through the program which operates in the US and Africa.
“Together, we can change the trajectory of an entire generation,” she wrote, according to the site.
“We are not just building brains — we are building the future. Each of us has a role to play, and it will take all of us to really make a difference.”
The dedicated mother was a founding member of the Bezos Family Foundation which has the express mission of helping “young people reach their full potential and meaningfully contribute to society.”
Jacklyn Bezos is survived by husband Mike, children Jeff, Christina, and Mark, eleven grandchildren and one great grandchild.
The family asked for mourners to support a nonprofit of their choice or to perform a simple act of kindness in Bezos’ memory.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
