Chris Affleck, mother of actors Ben and Casey Affleck, dies at 83

Arts admin July 26, 2026 0 Comments

Chris Affleck, mother of actors Ben and Casey Affleck, dies at 83

The mother of Hollywood stars Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck has died, according to an online obituary. She was 83.

Christopher Anne Affleck, known as Chris, died on June 2, two days after attending the high school graduation of one of her grandchildren, the obituary said.

“From the beginning of her life, Chris made her unconventional name her own, foreshadowing both the personality and the practicality that would follow her to her death,” the tribute said.

She was born in New York City in 1942 and later became active in the Civil Rights movement, according to her family.

“Chris taught literacy classes in Mississippi during Freedom Summer, marched against the Vietnam War, and reveled in 1960s counterculture,” the obituary said.

She was also a trailblazer in the field of higher education.

“One of the first Radcliffe women to receive a Harvard diploma, she eschewed a world of higher paying careers to spend 35 years as a public school teacher,” the obituary said. “Every student, whether just arrived from Haiti or Cambridge upper crust, was a cherished citizen of her classroom republic, equal to each other and to herself.”

But her “favorite young people,” her family said, were her sons and her five grandchildren, described as “the animating force” of her later years.

“Chris was suitably proud of her descendants’ achievements, but she was delighted when they questioned, defied, or cleverly engaged authority,” the obituary said.

She retired from teaching in 2008.

“After volunteering on the Obama campaign trail, she traveled to Palestine/Israel in 2009, and returned home as an organizer with the Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine,” the obituary said.

In December, she was given six months to live following an unspecified diagnosis, the obituary said.

“Her greatest wish after her diagnosis, however, was to live to see her grandson graduate high school,” the obituary said. “She did so, attending with her family on May 31, 2026. She died peacefully, in her sleep, two days later.”