Ted Jorgensen, a bike shop owner in Arizona, is the biological father of Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, but Jorgensen never knew until he was told late last year by the author of a new book about the Internet billionaire.
“I didn't know where he was, if he had a good job or not, or if he was alive or dead,” Jorgensen, 69, told Brad Stone, a Bloomberg Businessweek reporter and author of “The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon,” which will be published this month.
When shown photos of Bezos, Jorgensen's eyes filled with sorrow, according to an excerpt of the book released on Thursday.
“I wasn't a good father or a good husband,” said Jorgensen, who plans to re-establish contact with the Bezos family. USA TODAY could not reach Jorgensen.
Bezos was born Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen in early 1964 to Ted Jorgensen and Jackie Gise, who were still teenagers at the time. By June 1965, his mother filed for divorce and later met and married Miguel Bezos. In 1968, she moved to Houston and asked Jorgensen to let Miguel adopt Jeff and not to interfere in their lives.
Jorgensen approved the adoption, deciding his son would have a better life with Jackie and Miguel Bezos.
