This article was published in the Arizona Republic on October 11, 2013. We run it now in preparation for an update on Jeff Bezos’ ethnicity and how it has influenced his role as the most important retailer in the U.S., the founder Amazon, America’s Store.
Glendale bicycle shop owner Ted Jorgensen, who learned nearly a year ago that the son adopted decades ago by his ex-wife’s husband is Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, has had no contact with the Internet entrepreneur since a reporter told him about the connection.
Jorgensen and stepsons Darin and Todd Fala, who work at their Jorgensen Road Runner Bike Center, declined comment but distributed a three-paragraph statement that briefly recounted the family ties that are more fully explained in the cover story of the latest issue of Bloomberg Businessweek.
The magazine article, “Secret Amazon” by Businessweek reporter Brad Stone, is an excerpt from his book, “The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon,”
Jorgensen says in his statement that he had regular contact with his son until the boy was 3 and then reluctantly agreed to allow former wife Jacklyn’s new husband, Mike Bezos, to adopt the boy.
“This has been a decision that I have regretted my whole life,” Jorgensen says in the statement. “Jacklyn asked me to not try and contact Jeff as they were going to raise Jeff as their own, and I stated that I would respect her wishes.”
More than four decades later, Stone approached Jorgensen in the small bike shop in a strip mall. After verifying Jorgensen was Bezos’s biological father, Stone told him a lot of people were looking for him, Jorgensen says in the statement.
“This was the first time that I learned that Jeff knew that I existed, and had knowledge of his adoption. Had I known that Jeff learned of his adoption at an earlier age, I would have taken steps to locate him,” he says in the statement.“Because I have not spoken to Jeff since he was 3 years old, I have no further comment at this time. While I have no expectations of Jeff, I am hopeful (as any father would be) that I can begin a relationship with him again, and do not want to make any other statements until I have had the opportunity to do so,” he says in the statement.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos was born to Ted Jorgensen and Jacklyn Gise, who later divorced. Gise married Mike Bezos, who adopted Jeff.
Asked Friday whether family members have tried to contact Bezos since learning about the connection, Darin Fala referred reporters to the statement and declined comment.
According to the Businessweek article, Jorgensen decided this year to reach out to the Bezos family, and he asked his stepson Darin to help him write letters to Bezos and his former wife. Jorgensen’s statement does not address the matter.
The shop owner was affable but stayed mostly in the back of the shop while his stepsons spoke with a small group of reporters.
Joregensen and Jacklyn Gise were married in 1963, and Jacklyn gave birth to the boy just two weeks after her 17th birthday, on Jan. 12, 1964, in New Mexico, where they lived.
When the boy was 17 months old, they filed for divorce. Later, she met and married Mike Bezos, asked Jorgensen not to interfere in their lives, and then moved away with her new husband and son, according to the magazine article.
“After thinking it over and reasoning that the boy would probably have a better life as the son of Jackie and her new husband, Ted obliged. After a few years, he lost track of the family and then forgot their last name,” according to Businessweek.
Jorgensen later remarried. His wife, Linda, has four sons from a previous marriage, who all are close with their stepfather, according to the magazine.
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Bezos was born Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen in early 1964, His parents divorced when he was 3 and his mother married Miguel Bezos, who had been born in Cuba and came to the U.S. as a teenager. Bezos adopted the boy and the family moved to Houston. They later lived in Miami where young Jeff graduated from Palmetto Senior High.
Is he a Hispanic Entrepreneur?
How Latino is he?
Does he practice his ethnicity?
