Jill Biden Fast Facts
Here is a look at the life of Jill Biden, wife of President-elect Joe Biden.
Personal
Birth date: June 3, 1951
Birth place: Hammonton, New Jersey
Birth name: Jill Tracy Jacobs
Father: Donald Jacobs, banker
Mother: Bonny Jean (Godfrey) Jacobs
Marriages: Joe Biden (June 17, 1977-present); Bill Stevenson (1970-1975, divorced)
Children: with Joe Biden: Ashley
Education: University of Delaware, B.A., English, 1975; West Chester University, M.Ed, 1981 ; Villanova University, M.A. English, 1987 ; University of Delaware, Ed.D, 2007
Religion: Roman Catholic
Other Facts
Biden has been an educator for decades. Taught in public high schools for 13 years. She also taught at a psychiatric hospital for adolescents.
Kept working while her husband was vice president. She has said she wants to continue to teach after he becomes president.
Will be the the first first lady to hold a doctorate degree.
Was a presenter on Jeopardy!
Has said Joe Biden proposed to her five times before she agreed to marry him.
She often runs five miles five days a week and has run in the Marine Corps Marathon.
Timeline
1991-1993 – Teaches at Brandywine High School in Wilmington, Delaware.
1993 – Starts the Biden Breast Health Initiative.
1993-2008 – Teaches English at Delaware Technical and Community College.
2009-present – English professor at Northern Virginia Community College.
January 20, 2009-January 20, 2017 – Second lady of the United States.
October 5, 2010 – Hosts the first ever White House Summit on Community Colleges with President Barack Obama.
April 2011 – Launches the national veterans’ campaign, “Joining Forces,” with Michelle Obama.
June 5, 2012 – “Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops,” a children’s book, is published.
September 9, 2015 – Appointed honorary chair of the College Promise Advisory Board. The board is created by Obama to promote at least two years of free community college.
February 1, 2017 – Launch of the Biden Foundation, an organization that focusing on seven issues: foreign policy; Biden’s cancer initiative; community colleges and military families; protecting children; equality; ending violence against women; and strengthening the middle class.
April 25, 2019 – The Biden Foundation suspends operations after Joe Biden announces he is running for president.
May 7, 2019 – Biden’s memoir, “Where the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself,” is published.
2020 – Takes a leave of absence from teaching as she campaigned for her husband.
June 30, 2020 – Children’s book, “Joey: The Story of Joe Biden,” is published.
