NEW YORK – MacKenzie Scott, philanthropist, author and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is married to a Seattle science teacher who expressed his gratitude “as a partner with someone he can work with to do good.”
Dan Jewett, who made the announcement in a letter to the nonprofit website The Giving Pledge on Saturday, said he never thought he could talk in his lifetime about giving away meaningful wealth to make a difference. make life. of other persons.
Jewett has been a teacher for decades, most recently teaching chemistry at Lakeside Private School, which Scott’s children attended.
“And now, in a happy coincidence, I am married to one of the most generous and kind people I know, and have made a commitment with her to donate enormous financial wealth to serve others,” Jewett wrote.
After donating $ 1.68 billion to 116 nonprofits, universities, community development groups and legal organizations in July, Scott asked a team of advisers to help her accelerate her 2020 donations with immediate assistance to those financially affected by the pandemic.
Scott donated a total of $ 5.7 billion in 2020 by asking community leaders to help identify 512 organizations for seven- and eight-figure gifts, including food banks, human service organizations, and racial justice charities.
According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual rankings, she was ranked second out of 50 Americans who gave the most to charities last year.
Bezos topped the list by donating $ 10 billion to launch the Bezos Earth Fund.