MacKenzie Scott, Ex-Wife Of Jeff Bezos, Has Remarried

MacKenzie Scott, the world’s 22nd richest person—courtesy of her divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos—has found love again, and has married Seattle science teacher Dan Jewett.

Scott, who is worth worth $53 billion according to Forbes, signed the Giving Pledge—a promise to give away half her fortune to charity in her lifetime—when her divorce with Bezos was finalized in 2019. She’s been an active philanthropist in the two years since, notably giving away $4 billion in the course of four months to underserved communities, including community colleges and historically Black colleges and universities.

Fittingly, it is through the Giving Pledge that news of Scott’s marriage emerged.

“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 in a Giving Pledge statement posted March 6. Jewett is joining Scott in her charitable pledge.

“It is strange to be writing a letter indicating I plan to give away the majority of my wealth during my lifetime, as I have never sought to gather the kind of wealth required to feel like saying such a thing would have particular meaning,” he wrote, noting that he has been a teacher for the “majority” of his life.

The couple apparently met at the Lakeside School, a private school that Scott’s children attend (and where Bill Gates went) and where Jewett was a chemistry teacher. His profile is no longer on the school’s website, and Lakeside did not return a Forbes request for comment asking to confirm his employment there.

Representatives for Scott also did not reply to a request for comment.

“Dan is such a great guy, and I am happy and excited for the both of them,” Jeff Bezos said in a statement provided to Forbes by an Amazon spokesperson. (This was the same statement he provided to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported on Scott and Jewett’s marriage).

Scott’s most recent public remarks were around her $4.1 billion in donations last year. “Though I’m far from completing my pledge, this year of giving began with exposure to leaders from historically marginalized groups fighting inequities, and ended with exposure to thousands of organizations working to alleviate suffering for those hardest hit by the pandemic,” she wrote in December.

Altogether, Scott’s announced gifts to charitable and nonprofit groups in 2020 totaled $5.8 billion. 

Kerry Dolan contributed reporting