Jacqueline Avant, left, and Clarence Avant appear at the 11th Annual AAFCA Awards in Los Angeles on January 22, 2020. Jacqueline Avant was fatally shot early Wednesday, December 1, 2021, in Beverly Hills, California.
Mark Von Holden / Mark Von Holden / Invision / AP
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Mark Von Holden / Mark Von Holden / Invision / AP
Jacqueline Avant, left, and Clarence Avant appear at the 11th Annual AAFCA Awards in Los Angeles on January 22, 2020. Jacqueline Avant was fatally shot early Wednesday, December 1, 2021, in Beverly Hills, California.
Mark Von Holden / Mark Von Holden / Invision / AP
Police in Beverly Hills, California, are investigating the shooting death of Jacqueline Avant, a philanthropist and wife of music legend Clarence Avant and mother-in-law of Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos. Police found Avant, 81, at his home with a gunshot wound. She was taken to Cedars-Sinai hospital, where she later died.
“I don’t think it was a random attack, but I can’t speculate on it right now,” Beverly Hills Police Department Chief Mark Stainbrook, who told reporters at a news conference for know. He said at the time of the shooting, Clarence Avant and a security guard were at home and no one else was injured. He said, the suspect or the suspects, is still very large.
The road leading to Avant’s luxury home in Beverly Hills was blocked as police investigated a possible motive. Stainbrook said it was too early to classify the shooting as a home invasion. “We’re not going to speculate on anything out there, including whether or not this was a robbery,” he said.
Stainbrook, who had just been sworn in a day earlier, also read a statement shared by the Avant family: “Jacqueline was an amazing woman, wife, mother, philanthropist and resident of 55 years. of Beverly Hills, who made an enormous positive contribution and impact to the arts community, she will be missed by family, friends, and everyone else she helped throughout her wonderful life. my great.”
Avant is the president of Neighborhood of Watts, the organization that supports the South Central Community Child Care Center, and she serves on the board of directors of the Center for International Students at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is also the entertainment president of the NOW benefit auction.
Her husband is known as “The Godfather of Black Music”, president of Motown Records in the 1990s, who founded Sussex Records in 1969 and Tabu Records in 1976. Grammy Award winners are managers, concert organisers, label owners and event producers. He created the first Negro-owned FM radio station in Los Angeles.
Over the years, he has helped the careers of Bill Withers, Jimmy Smith, Babyface, Lalo Schifrin and others. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2016. In October, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, along with former President Barack Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris among them. who honored him.
The couple met during the Ebony Fashion Fair in the mid-1960s, while Jacqueline was modeling. They married in 1967 and had two children, Alexander and Nicole.
Their daughter, Nicole Avant, is a film producer who served as the US ambassador to the Bahamas from 2009 to 2011. She is married to Ted Sarandos and worked on a 2019 Netflix documentary about her father. “My mom is really the one who brought my dad and our family the love, the passion, and the importance of art, culture and entertainment,” she told NBC News when interviewed about the film. document”. While my dad was in it, making all the deals, it was my mother who gave me, for example, my love of literature, my love of filmmaking, my love of storytelling. “
Reginald Hudlin, director of the Netflix documentary, described Jacqueline Avant as “the epitome of grace, elegance, kindness, and taste…. Like so many people in Hollywood, I am much indebted to Clarence and Jackie’s advice and generosity. This is a senseless tragedy that has left our entire industry reeling, confused and heartbroken.”
On Twitter, many compliments go to Jacqueline Avant. Filmmaker Tyler Perry wrote, “I don’t know what kind of petty person would shoot an 81-year-old woman in her own home. But you can rest assured that every available resource will be used to shoot an 81-year-old woman. find out who’s responsible. This terrible nightmare. This is so sad.”
Actress Viola Davis tweeted “So sorry to the Avant family. My heart goes out to you guys!!! OMG!!!! Where are we??!!! What are we?!!”
Music producer Quincy Jones wrote, “She is purest of soul in every sense, and the Rock of Gibraltar for Clarence, their children, her friends, and the community. All of them. We, each of us are better people because Jacquie was in our lives.”
Former President Bill Clinton tweeted that his dear friend of 30 years “inspires admiration, respect and affection in all who knew her.”
And Earvin “Magic” Johnson says he and his wife Cookie were devastated. “She was senselessly murdered last night during a home invasion,” he tweeted. “This is the saddest day of our lives.”
