# Jean Finnegan Biden

Catherine Eugenia "Jean" Biden (née Finnegan; July 7, 1917 – January 8, 2010) was the mother of Joe Biden, 46th President of the United States.

## Early life

She was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania to Geraldine (née Blewitt) and Ambrose Joseph Finnegan. Her family is largely of Irish descent, with roots in County Louth and County Londonderry.$^{:8}$ In addition to their daughter, Ambrose and Geraldine had a son, Ambrose Jr., who died in the Pacific theater of World War II.
Her father Ambrose was born in Olyphant, Pennsylvania in 1883, and attended Santa Clara University where he was a star quarterback on their football team. After college, he worked for real estate investor Major Bowes in San Francisco until the 1906 San Francisco earthquake wiped out his boss's investments. He then returned to the Scranton area where he worked for many years as a newspaper advertising salesman and then as librarian for two Scranton newspapers. He died in 1957.
Jean's maternal grandfather was Edward Francis Blewitt, the child of Irish emigrants from Rappagh, Ballina, County Mayo. Blewitt was a civil engineer and businessman who later served as a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate.

## Marriage

Finnegan married Joseph Robinette Biden Sr. of Baltimore, Maryland in 1941, despite her family's reservations about Biden. The couple had four children together:
* Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942), politician, serving as 46th President of the United States since 2020. Previously served as Senator from Delaware from 1973 to 2009, and 47th Vice President of the United States from 2009 to 2017, under President Barack Obama.$^{:9}$$^{:5}$
* Mary Valerie Biden Owens (born November 5, 1945), campaign manager and political strategist. Appointed by Barack Obama as advisor to the United Nations 71st General Assembly. She played a pivotal role in all of her brother's political campaigns. She was the campaign manager during all of his Senate elections and for his 1988 and 2008 presidential campaigns, and was a senior advisor to his successful 2020 presidential campaign.
* James Brian "Jim" Biden (born 1949), healthcare executive. According to a The Washington Post profile, he is "known in the family as the one who’s always ready to help" and "has a history of business dealings that resulted in recriminations and lawsuits."
* Francis William "Frank" Biden (born 1953), non-attorney advisor to Bergman Law Group, Boca Raton, Florida.
Joseph Sr. was initially wealthy but suffered financial setbacks around the time Joe Jr. was born, and for several years the family lived with Jean's parents. Scranton fell into economic decline during the 1950s and Joseph Sr. could not find steady work. Beginning in 1953, the family lived in an apartment in Claymont, Delaware, then moved to a house in Wilmington, Delaware. Joseph Sr. later became a successful used-car salesman, maintaining the family in a middle-class lifestyle. Jean became a widow upon Joe Sr.'s death in 2002.

## Final years

On Election Night 2008, Jean accompanied her son Joe onto the stage after he became the Vice President-elect of the United States. Throughout the 2008 campaign, she often made appearences on the campaign trail.
Jean Biden died on January 8, 2010, after a brief illness, at her home in Wilmington, Delaware. Her funeral was held on January 12, with President Barack Obama traveling from Washington, D.C. to attend.
She was buried next to her husband at St. Joseph on the Brandywine Cemetery in Greenville, Delaware. Their gravesites are near the graves of their daughter-in-law Neilia Hunter Biden, their granddaughter Naomi, and grandson Beau.