Jay Pritchett is a middle-aged man and the patriarch of the Pritchett Family. His is the father of Claire and Mitchell, and is married to Gloria, a beautiful Colombian woman about 20 years younger than him. She is his second wife, who he married years after divorcing Claire and Mitchell's mother, DeDe. He was miserable in that marriage and is now getting what he perceives as the reward for having put up with his first wife. He is also the stepfather of Manny, Gloria's son, a bright kid who often challenge's Jay's tough exterior. Jay is well off, runs a custom-closet company, lives in a huge, large home in Los Angeles and enjoys playing golf most weekends.While he has always been a gruff, not-entirely-understanding father, his children remain close and he enjoys the opportunity in his older, wiser years to make up for some of his shortcomings as a father when they were younger. Jay's default is to exude toughness, which rubbed off on Claire and made her fairly competitive but didn't sit well with his gay son Mitchell, who still longs for his father's approval and affection despite a lifetime of not receiving it. Slowly, though, Jay begins to understand and fulfill Mitchell's needs. Jay also gets great pleasure out of giving his son-in-law Phil Dunphy, Claire's husband, a hard time and making him work every so hard for his approval.Jay has four grandchildren -- Hailey, Alex, Luke and Lily -- and enjoys sitting back and watching his own children go through the same challenges he went through as a parent trying to raise them.