What happened to Mike Tyson's mother?
Matthew Wilson
Updated on January 14, 2026
Lorna Smith Tyson is the mother of world champion boxer Mike Tyson. She was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, and spent the majority of her life at 203 Franklin Avenue in Bedford Stuyvesant.
She had three children. Sons Rodney Tyson and Mike Tyson and a daughter Denise Tyson. Lorna Smith is said to have married a Jamaican man named Parcel Tyson after meeting in New York.
Lorna Smith cause of death: What happened to Mike Tyson’s mother?
Parcel Tyson is said to be Mike’s father, but the man Tyson knew as his biological dad was Jimmy Kirkpatrick.
Lorna Smith Tyson died of cancer in 1982, at the age of 55. Mike was only 16 years old at the time. Mike gave her mum a befitting burial that got people wondering. He placed his mother’s body in the most expensive coffin after her death.
When asked why he did it in an interview, Mike stated that he was guilty of being a terrible son and that he did that to merit his mum’s forgiveness.
His mother’s death crushed him emotionally and mentally because he never got to know about her or talk to her.
Mike posted a photo of his mother on Instagram recently that was shot several decades ago; his mother was 20 years old at the time, and she looks stunning in the photo.
