Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' biological father, Ted Jorgensen, was unaware of his son's immense success until 2012, decades after losing contact with him, according to a Benzinga report.
Bezos was born in 1964 to teenage parents Jacklyn Gise and Ted Jorgensen. The couple separated shortly after his birth. When Bezos was still a toddler, his mother remarried Miguel Bezos, a Cuban immigrant who later adopted Jeff and became a central figure in his life.
Jorgensen exited Jeff's life early and remained out of contact. For most of his life, he did not know what had become of his son. It wasn't until journalist Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and Amazon, located Jorgensen in 2012 that he learnt of Bezos' identity and success.
According to Benzinga report, at the time, Jorgensen was running a small bicycle shop in Arizona. According to Stone, he had not even recognised the name "Jeff Bezos". Only after being shown photographs did he realise the truth, reacting with visible regret and stating, "I wasn't a good father or a good husband."
Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos credits Miguel Bezos as his true father. In a 1999 interview, he said he considers Miguel his natural father and rarely thinks about Jorgensen, except for medical history purposes.
Jacklyn and Miguel played a pivotal role in Bezos' early life. In 1995, they invested nearly $250,000 into Amazon, a risk they were told had a 70% chance of failure.
Jorgensen passed away in 2015, just three years after learning about his son's achievements.
In 2019, Page Six shared a quote from a family source who said, "Ted was just a teenager when Jeff was born; he was good and bad, just like anybody else." They also added, "But the sad part is that he never met Jeff after he found out he was his biological father. He went to his grave never having spoken to him. He would never talk about it, but I know it was hard for him."
