R.I.P.: Joe Jackson, Domineering Father of a Musical Dynasty

Jackson, center, with, clockwise from bottom left: Jackie, Tito, Marlon, Jermaine, Michael and Randy, around 1970

Joe Jackson, the domineering father and manager who molded his sons into the immensely popular Jackson 5 and helped launch his son Michael and his daughter Janet on explosive solo careers before alienating all of them because of his abusive behavior, has died in Los Angeles. He was 89.

The NYTimes report the Michael Jackson estate confirmed the death in a statement but did not say when or specifically where he died. The celebrity news website TMZ said he died at his home early Wednesday morning.

Jackson had been admitted to a Los Angeles hospital on Friday with terminal cancer, according to news reports.

A crane operator and an unsuccessful rhythm-and-blues musician, Mr. Jackson was struggling to provide for his wife, Katherine, and their many children in the mid-1960s when he discovered his sons’ budding talents and began pushing them into the music business. He saw music as a path out of their cramped home in Gary, Ind.

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