MacKenzie Scott, philanthropist, author, and former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has married a Seattle science teacher who expressed gratitude “for the exceptional privilege it will be to partner in giving away assets with the potential to do so much good when shared."

Dan Jewett, who made the announcement in a letter to the website of the nonprofit organization the Giving Pledge on Saturday, said he never imagined he would be in a position to talk about giving away significant wealth during his lifetime in order to make a difference in other people's lives.

Jewett has been a teacher for decades and most recently taught chemistry at the private Lakeside School, where Scott's children attended.

“And now, in a stroke of happy coincidence, I am married to one of the most generous and kind people I know — and joining her in a commitment to pass on an enormous financial wealth to serve others," Jewett wrote.

After donating $1.68 billion to 116 nonprofits, universities, community development groups, and legal organizations last July, Scott asked a team of advisers to help her “accelerate” her 2020 giving with immediate help to those financially gutted by the pandemic.

Scott went on to donate 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.

She was listed as No. 2 among the 50 Americans who gave the most to charity last year, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual rankings.

Bezos topped the list by donating $10 billion to launch the Bezos Earth Fund.

Share:
More In Culture
Bethany Joy Lenz on Adapting 'So Cold in the River' to the Big Screen
Actor Bethany Joy Lenz joined Cheddar New to discuss her new supernatural thriller "So Cold in the River," coming to theaters March 25. The film is based on the bestselling novel of the same name, and Lenz noted that there was some pressure in bringing the story to the screen. "Just wanting to make sure that we did justice to the story that everyone loves was it was a little nerve-racking, but I think we pulled it off," she said. Lenz also talked about the 10-year reunion for the show "One Tree Hill" on the set of former castmate Sophia Bush’s show ‘Good Sam’ on CBS. "Part of being an actor is just being able to carry with you all the experience that you've had in life and in other roles," Lenz noted.
'Ignite' Training Women to Run for Public Office
Ignite works to recruit and train women to run for elected office. As a part of Cheddar News' celebration of Women's History Month, CEO Sara Guillermo joins Cheddar Politics to discuss her organization's work ahead of the 2022 midterms.
Do Award Shows Really Matter?
Awards season is underway and the Oscars are right around the corner. But with the 'best picture' nominees barely breaking the box-office bank, why do we tune in to hours-long broadcasts for movies we don't even watch? The answer is we don’t. Ratings for award shows have plummeted in recent years but it seems everything these organizations do to try and keep viewers isn’t working. This year the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences decided the answer was to cut eight awards from the live broadcast to help with time. Now it’s facing backlash from nearly every angle in the industry. Cheddar's own JD Durkin reports.
Gig Economy Apps Push Back Against Reclassifying Workers
Uber Lyft and Doordash are all set to spend $1 million dollars on a campaign and efforts to stop lawmakers from classifying their gig workers as employees. The campaign features TV and online ads highlighting Washington area workers who say they prefer the flexibility of being an independent contractor rather than following the model of a company employee. Professor at NYU. Stern School of Business and author of the sharing economy, Arun Sundararajan, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
This Dating App is Made for Music Lovers
Rachel Van Nortwick, CEO and Founder of Vinylly, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how this dating app is designed with music lovers in mind, pairing matches based on each individual's unique taste in music.
Andrea Macasaet Brings Anne Boleyn to Broadway's 'Six' Featuring an All-Female Cast
The Broadway musical “Six” tells the stories of the six wives of King Henry VIII, featuring a diverse cast and musical crew comprised entirely of women. Andrea Macasaet, starring as Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn, joined Cheddar News to talk about what theatergoers can expect from the new musical take on English history. "You have a group of women from different walks of life retelling the story of these women in history, these queens, and they're far beyond the moments of their marriage, or their divorce — or their beheadings," she said.
Load More