Ben Affleck&x27;s mom dies at 83 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer Chiara Fiorillo Fri, July 24, 2026 at 6:26 AM UTC 0 Ben Affleck's mother Chris has passed away Credit:Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images Ben Affleck&x27;s mother has died at the age of 83, her family said. Chris Anne Affleck passed away on June 2, six months after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Her family announced her passing in an obituary on July 23, revealing that she died peacefully in her sleep two days after attending her grandson&x27;s high school graduation.
Ben Affleck's mom dies at 83 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
Chiara Fiorillo Fri, July 24, 2026 at 6:26 AM UTC
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Ben Affleck's mother Chris has passed away -Credit:Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
Ben Affleck's mother has died at the age of 83, her family said.
Chris Anne Affleck passed away on June 2, six months after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Her family announced her passing in an obituary on July 23, revealing that she died peacefully in her sleep two days after attending her grandson's high school graduation.
She was a highly accomplished educator, a lifelong social justice advocate, and the matriarch of the prominent Hollywood family, as the mother of Academy Award-winning actors Ben and Casey Affleck. The obituary revealed that Chris was born in New York City in 1942 and she embraced her given name, Christopher, throughout her entire life.
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As a child, she "cherished her younger siblings" and "idolized her stepfather, Sam" who had served during the Second World War. She attended Harvard University, graduating as one of the very first Radcliffe College women to be granted an official Harvard diploma. She later earned her master's degree from the institution.
Talking about his mom in 2012, Ben told The Hollywood Reporter, "My mother taught public school, went to Harvard and then got her master's there and taught fifth and sixth grade in a public school. My dad had a more working-class lifestyle. He didn't go to college. He was an auto mechanic and a bartender and a janitor at Harvard."
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Chris supported her children's Hollywood careers -Credit:GC Images
As a young woman in the 1960s, Chris served as one of the original Freedom Riders, traveling into the Deep South to fight for civil rights. Chris spent 35 years working as a public school teacher, primarily teaching fifth and sixth grade in Massachusetts before her retirement in 2008.
In her retirement, she stayed active by volunteering for Barack Obama's presidential campaign, organizing for the Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine, and serving as a founding board member of the Sustainable Cape project in Truro, Massachusetts.
Chris and her ex-husband, Timothy Affleck, welcomed their son Ben in 1972. His brother, Casey Affleck, was born in 1975, when the family relocated to Massachusetts. Chris and Timothy divorced by the time Ben was 12 - but the actor's mom was a key figure during his early career as she connected him with her former Harvard roommate, casting director Patty Collins, who helped Ben audition for commercials and TV movies.
Ben and Matt Damon with their mothers at the 1998 Oscars -Credit:Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
The proud mom supported her sons' acting careers and she attended the 1998 Oscars with Ben and Matt Damon, who also brought his mom to the event. The actors won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting and, talking about that moment, Ben revealed after the event that both he and Matt immediately hugged their moms.
Ben later won his second Oscar for Best Picture for Argo in 2012, while his brother won the Best Actor Oscar in 2017 for his performance in Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea. According to the obituary, Ben and Caleb were Chris' "favorite young people" and her five grandchildren - Indiana, Violet, Atticus, Fin, and Sam - were "the animating force of her last two decades."
Her family said, "Chris was suitably proud of her descendants' achievements, but she was delighted when they questioned, defied, or cleverly engaged authority." In December 2025, Chris was given six months to live following her cancer diagnosis, according to the obituary.
At the time, she called her friend, Josh Laub, to take oral histories of his time as a principal in the South Bronx. However, her "greatest wish" after her diagnossi was "to live to see her grandson graduate high school," the family said, adding, "She did so, attending with her family on May 31, 2026. She died peacefully, in her sleep, two days later."
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: July 24, 2026 at 02:36AM on Source: OPERA MAG
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