Getty Learn about the family of Jack Welch, including his kids, wives and parents.
Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric who died at the age of 84, leaves behind wife Suzy Welch and four children. He had two other wives before Suzy.
His cause of death was renal failure, according to CNBC. Welch died with his family and dogs around him, the network announced on March 2, 2020. He was a well-known CEO known for his efficient corporate philosophies. You can also read more about Welch’s wife Suzy here.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Welch’s Wife Suzy Called Him a ‘Life Force Made of Love’
Businessman Jack Welch (L) and wife Suzy Welch attend the relaunch of BusinessWeek magazine at Guastavino’s October 11, 2007 in New York City.
Suzy Welch, Jack’s current wife, released a statement to CNBC that confirmed his death.
“More than anything else — leader, business icon, management genius — more than those things, although they are all true too — Jack was a life force made of love,” Welch’s wife, Suzy, said in the statement.
“And somehow, crazily somehow, he also managed to be the greatest husband and step-father who ever lived, giving our family twenty amazing years of adventure, happiness, and joy. Our hearts, so much larger and fuller having known and loved him, are broken.”
2. Welch’s Father Was a Conductor for the Railroad
Jack Welch
Jack Welch came from humble beginnings. He grew up in Salem, Massachusetts.
According to CNBC, he was born John Francis Welch Jr. on November 19, 1935 in Peabody Massachusetts. He was of Irish-American descent.
The network reports that Welch’s father was a railroad conductor who worked for Boston & Maine Railroad. His mom was a homemaker.
According to Bloomberg, Welch’s dad was named John Sr. and his mother was named Grace Andrews Welch.
3. Welch Had Four Children With His First Wife & His Second Marriage Ended in a Massive Monetary Settlement
Jack Welch
Welch was married three times. According to Bloomberg, his first wife was Carolyn Osburn, and he had four children with her.
Theirs was a very long-term marriage. They were married in 1959 and divorced in 1987. According to Bloomberg, Welch then married Jane Beasley, a lawyer, next. Their marriage lasted 13 years and ended in divorce in 2002.
Beasley “discovered her husband’s intimate e-mail exchanges with Suzy,” the woman who became his third and last wife, Boston Magazine reports. Beasley ended up with $180 million in a divorce settlement, according to Boston Magazine, but Welch’s net worth was an estimated $900 million.
4. Welch’s Last Marriage Was to Harvard Business Review Editor Suzy Wetlaufer
CEO Jack Welch and his new wife Editor Suzy Wetlaufer photographed after their wedding at the Park Street Church in Boston, April 24, 2004.
According to Bloomberg, Welch met his next love interest, Harvard Business Review editor Suzy Wetlaufer when she interviewed him for an article while he was still married to Beasley.
Welch and Wetlaufer married in 2004. Welch and Suzy authored books together. She announced that he had died.
Three days before her wedding to Welch, Wetlaufer gushed to Boston Magazine, “I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it! I’m about to lose control, and I think I like it!”
The magazine described Suzy as “a Harvard-educated novelist, a brilliant thinker who some say was the best editor the Harvard Business Review ever had. She’s a devout Christian who attends Bible study regularly, but she’s also a woman who is partial to French manicures and shopping for designer clothes.”
5. Welch’s Daughter Ran for State Senate in California
Katherine Welch
Jack Welch’s four children are named Katherine, John, Anne and Mark. In 1994, Welch’s daughter Katherine married. That wedding announcement in the New York Times reported that she married “Raymond Evan Solnik, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Solnik of Roslyn, L.I.” Her mother, now Carolyn Carson of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was described as “a lawyer in private practice in Fort Lauderdale.”
Katherine ran for state Senate in the East Bay in California. Before running for office, EB Citizen reports that Kathryn was a “statewide advocate for school children with the grassroots Educate Our State.” She ran as a Democrat but didn’t win.
Katherine Welch once said of her dad to EB Citizen: “I’ll be honest with you. I love my dad and he loves me, and our politics couldn’t be any different. So he has not donated, nor has any of his friends, nor do I expect they will.”
Her LinkedIn page says she’s currently a board member for Educate Our State.
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