Jeffrey Edward Epstein was born on January 20, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York, to working-class parents with modest means.
His father, Seymour G. Epstein, worked for the New York City Parks Department as a groundskeeper. He was employed there for many years and was not a figure of wealth or influence.
His mother, Pauline (née Stolofsky) Epstein, was a homemaker and school aide. The family lived in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn, and Epstein was raised in relatively humble circumstances.
Epstein had one brother, Mark Epstein, who later became a real estate developer in New York.
Epstein’s rise from his working-class origins to wealth and the highest levels of privilege is part of what makes his story remarkable — and in retrospect, deeply suspicious. He absorbed the social patterns of the elite rapidly, losing his accent, acquiring expensive tastes, and cultivating relationships with extraordinarily powerful people.
His parents both predeceased him. Neither played a visible role in his public life or in the events that led to his prosecution. After Epstein’s death, his brother Mark was involved in monitoring the official autopsy, having hired Dr. Michael Baden as an independent forensic pathologist to observe the procedure.