Jackie Bezos, the mother of Jeff Bezos, died on Thursday in Miami at the age of 78 after living with Lewy body dementia. Her passing was confirmed by her family, who remembered her as a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother whose life was shaped by resilience and compassion.
Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Albuquerque, Jackie became a mother at 17 and worked tirelessly to continue her education while raising her son. She later married Miguel Bezos, and together they built a close-knit family with three children, eleven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
In her mid-40s, Jackie returned to school to earn a psychology degree, and she went on to lead the Bezos Family Foundation, supporting education programs for young people around the world.
With her death, many are now curious about the fortune she leaves behind. In the next sections, we’ll look at Jackie Bezos’ net worth at the time of her passing and how her life’s work contributed to her lasting legacy.
Jackie Bezos’ Net Worth At Her Death
Jackie’s financial legacy was tied to the fortune she built alongside her husband, Miguel “Mike” Bezos. While her exact personal holdings were never made public, estimates in 2018 suggested their stake from decades of investing had grown to around $30 billion. That figure reflected the family’s long-term wealth, though the current value of their assets has not been confirmed.
Much of that wealth fueled the Bezos Family Foundation, which Jackie and Mike founded in 2000 to champion educational causes. Under her leadership, the foundation supported programs like the Bezos Scholars Program and funded hundreds of initiatives aimed at early childhood learning.
Her generosity reached historic levels in recent years. In August 2025, she and Mike donated $185.7 million to the Aspen Institute to create the Center for Rising Generations, the largest gift in the institute’s history. Three years earlier, they gave $710.5 million to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, ranking among the most significant philanthropic contributions in the United States that year.
While the precise figure of Jackie’s net worth at her death remains unverified, her record of giving makes it clear that her wealth was measured not just in assets but in the lasting impact of her philanthropy.
She Believed in Jeff When the Odds Were Against Him
Jackie Bezos’s influence on Amazon’s beginnings went far beyond writing a check. In 1995, when Jeff warned her there was a high chance his idea could fail, she didn’t hesitate. She and her husband, Miguel, backed him anyway—choosing to believe in his determination rather than dwell on the risk. That trust became a quiet but essential part of the company’s early foundation.
Her support for Jeff was rooted in years of perseverance. As a teenage mother, she worked at a bank while attending night school, often carrying textbooks in one bag and baby supplies in another so she could keep her son close during classes. Those early lessons in grit and balance stayed with him as he built his business.
Jackie’s role in Amazon’s story was never about public credit. Once Jeff’s vision took off, she shifted her focus to family and philanthropy, co-founding the Bezos Family Foundation in 2000. Under her leadership, the foundation championed early learning programs and initiatives like the Bezos Scholars Program, aiming to equip young people with tools for leadership and opportunity.
Through both her belief in her son’s dream and her decades of work for education, Jackie’s legacy is one of quiet conviction. She showed that the right mix of trust, sacrifice, and vision can shape not just a family’s story, but the future for countless others.
