Mary Jo Campbell, Kardashian matriarch and Kris Jenner's mother, dies at 91

Mary Jo Campbell, the woman who raised the woman who would manage the Kardashian empire, died on July 26 at the age of 91, just days before what would have been her 92nd birthday. Her daughter Kris Jenner, now 70 and the architect of her family's decades-long reign in entertainment and business, announced the death on social media with a simple, tender statement: "Today, we said goodbye to my beautiful Mommy MJ."

Campbell, who also went by MJ Shannon, was born in 1934 and lived long enough to see her daughter's children and grandchildren build empires of their own—Kim with Skims, Khloe with Good American, Kourtney with her various ventures. But she was never merely a footnote to their success. Beginning when Keeping Up with the Kardashians premiered in 2007, Campbell appeared regularly across the family's reality television programs, and in doing so, she became something unexpected: a television personality in her own right, beloved by viewers for her sharp wit, her no-nonsense commentary on her family's extravagant lives, and her willingness to speak openly about surviving cancer—twice.

No official cause of death was disclosed. The family had celebrated her 91st birthday with a garden-themed party, and just the year before, they had marked her 90th with a lavish hotel celebration in San Diego, California, which aired on The Kardashians series on Hulu. In that episode, Campbell reflected on what she considered her greatest achievement: her two daughters. "How wonderful life is when you're in my world," she said, looking at the assembled family. "That's all of you." When Kris Jenner, moved by the moment, spoke about the day she might lose her mother, calling her "my best friend," Campbell reassured her that she wasn't going anywhere—that there would be another birthday party to celebrate.

Kim Kardashian, the most famous of Campbell's grandchildren, described her as "my best friend, my gossip buddy, my forever twin." But beyond the affection, Kim credited her grandmother with something more foundational: her understanding of work and business. Campbell had given Kim her first job at a retail store in San Diego, teaching her lessons about labor, strength, and confidence that would shape how Kim approached her later ventures. The Skims founder wrote that her grandmother had shown her what it meant to be a hardworking businesswoman—a lesson that seemed to take root.

Campbell's life was marked by loss as well as longevity. Her other daughter, Karen Houghton, died of cardiac arrest in March 2024 at 65, meaning Campbell had outlived one of her two children. Yet in her public appearances, she carried herself with resilience and humor, teasing her family about their wealth and excess while making clear that what mattered most to her was the bond between them.

In her final tribute, Kris Jenner wrote that there was no part of her that wasn't shaped by her mother, and that anything she had done right in the world came from trying to live in a way that would make Campbell proud. The matriarch who had raised the woman who would manage one of the most recognizable families in modern entertainment had, in the end, shaped not just a business dynasty but a family's understanding of what it means to show up, work hard, and love fiercely.