Carol Baldwin, matriarch of the Baldwin family, has died. She was 92.
Alec Baldwin shared the heartbreaking news alongside photos of his mother on his Instagram.
“It is with the deepest regret that my family posts the following statement,” he wrote. “Carol M. Baldwin, mother of actors Alec, Daniel, William and Stephen Baldwin and two daughters, Elizabeth and Jane, died today in Syracuse, New York.”
Carol was born Carol Newcomb Martineau on December 15, 1929 in Syracuse, New York. She had one brother, Daniel, and five sisters, Patricia, Joan, Diane, Louise and Rebecca.
She attended Syracuse University where she met Alexander “Alec” R. Baldwin Jr. from Brooklyn. The couple and their children moved to Long Island in 1954 where Alec taught history and coached football and riflery at Massapequa High School until his death in 1983.
Carol went on to raise Alec, Daniel, William, Stephen, Jane, and Elizabeth herself, and when her youngest was a teenager she began working in market research, according to Alec’s Instagram post.
In 1991, the matriarch was diagnosed with breast cancer, and the disease nearly took her life. After undergoing a double mastectomy, she joined a Long Island breast cancer support group and with the help of SUNY Stony Brook she launched the Carol M Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund.
In 2001 she launched another chapter in cooperation with SUNY Upstate Medical University. During the past two decades the Baldwin fund has provided more than 60 grants to support research programs.
The fund has also spurred nearly $24 million in additional grant funding, according to their website. In addition, each year the fund awards multiple $50,000 grants to investigators conducting research at SUNY Upstate Medical University and Upstate University Hospital.
“My mother taught me about second acts. And third ones, too. She spent the last 25 years of her life as a fighter and a champion for the cause to which she devoted so much energy. We are all enormously proud of her accomplishments,” Alec said in a statement.
Daniel Baldwin shared a short, but sweet message on Twitter announcing his mother’s death.
Hailey Bieber, daughter of Stephen Baldwin, shared a tribute to her grandmother early Friday morning.
“Yesterday at 5:52pm my beautiful Grandma Carol Baldwin, the matriarch of the Baldwin family completed her journey here on earth.”
Her cause of death has not been revealed.
It is very clear that Carol Baldwin was loved by all. She will be missed by many.
May she rest in peace.
