Jennifer Aniston’s Mother Passes Away At 79

Nancy Dow, Jennifer Aniston’s mother, has died at 79 years old. "It is with great sadness that my brother John and I announce the passing of our mother Nancy Dow,” Aniston told People. “She was 79 years old and passed peacefully surrounded by family and friends after enduring a long illness. We ask that our family's privacy be respected as we grieve our loss." The pair were estranged for years after Dow gave statements about Aniston to the press and wrote the 1999 memoir From Mother and Daughter to Friends: A Memoir. They reconciled in 2009. Two years after their reconciliation, Dow suffered a stroke, then another a year later. Dow married Jack Melick in 1956 before divorcing him in 1961. Her 1965 marriage to soap star John Aniston lasted until 1980, when Jennifer was nine. Dow worked occasionally as an actress, featuring on The Beverly Hillbillies in 1966 and The Wild Wild West in 1967, and most recently in Pure in 2004. She was born in 1936 in New York City and is survived by Aniston and her brother, John Melick.