In a blog post announcing the death, Branson said his mother “held on to one last victory, managing to fight the virus, but spent all her energy in the process”. She was 96 years old.
He said one of his sisters and his nephew was with her “to the end”, as well as “the wonderful nurses she used to amuse with tales of her life and lots of laughter with glasses of whiskey”.
Detailing Eve’s life further, Branson wrote that her mother taught her brothers the “importance of hard work, of not taking yourself too seriously, of treating people the way you want to be treated, of entrepreneurship and more.”
The British billionaire said she “always worked on a project” when he was young and that she was “inventive, fearless, unforgiving – an entrepreneur before the word even existed”.
Branson also credits the start of the Virgin conglomerate to £ 100 given to him by his mother after she sold a necklace. The name of one of Virgin Galatic’s spaceships, VMS Eve, takes its name and that it “will always be my mothership”.
Branson’s father died in 2011. Together, they had three children, including Lindy and Vanessa from her sister.