HEADLINE

Betty Wold Johnson, mother of Jets owners, dies

Field Level Media

May 09, 2020 at 4:05 pm.

Betty Wold Johnson, the mother of New York Jets owners Christopher Johnson and Woody Johnson, has died. She was 99.

The team announced her passing on Friday night but did not specify a date or cause of death.

Although she did not have a formal role in the Jets’ front office, Betty Wold Johnson was revered by several of the team’s former players. She referred to the players as her grandchildren, per the Jets’ official website.

“When I think of her, I think of her as ‘The First Lady of the Jets,'” former quarterback Chad Pennington said. “I think of Ms. Johnson as nothing but first class with how she treated people, how she carried herself and how she represented herself and her family.”

Curtis Martin, the Jets’ all-time leading rusher and Pro Football Hall of Fame member, remembered her for her “charitable heart.”

“There are very few people in this world who live to 99,” Martin said. “And I’m sure if you go back and look at everything she did for other people, you could probably write a book on her from a philanthropic standpoint. … She had such a charitable heart and a charitable way about her.”

Per the Jets’ official website, Betty Wold Johnson was a “philanthropist and long-time contributor to arts, education and healthcare initiatives throughout the New Jersey and New York regions.”

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