Jackie Bezos

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 to a father who worked at Sandia National Laboratories. She grew up in Bernalillo, New Mexico and attended high school in Albuquerque.

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. Jacklyn gave birth to Jeff Bezos on January 12, 1964, two weeks after her 17th birthday. They named the child Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen at birth. Her high school sought to block her from graduating, but later relented, after banning her from socialising with other students.

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

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.

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

Jacklyn Bezos gave birth to daughter Christina and then son Mark Bezos.

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

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

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