Jeremy Jacobs

Jeremy Maurice Jacobs Sr.[1] (born January 21, 1940) is an American billionaire businessman, the owner of the Boston Bruins and chairman of Delaware North. Forbes magazine ranks him as 481st richest person in the world.[2]

Jeremy Jacobs
14th Chairman of the NHL Board of Governors
Assumed office
June 22, 2007
Preceded byHarley Hotchkiss
Personal details
Born
Jeremy Maurice Jacobs

(1940-01-21) January 21, 1940
Buffalo, New York, U.S.
SpouseMargaret Jacobs
Children6
Alma materUniversity at Buffalo
OccupationChairman of Delaware North
Known forOwner of the Boston Bruins, former owner of the Cincinnati Royals

Early life and education

Jacobs was born in 1940,[3] the son of Genevieve (née Bibby)[4][5] and Louis Jacobs. His mother was of Irish Catholic descent, and his father was the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland. The original surname of his family's paternal side was Yakobovitch.[6][7] In 1915, his father and his two brothers, Charles and Marvin, founded a company that first sold concessions in theaters and then expanded to major league ballparks.[8][9][10] His father took over the company in the 1950s when the health of his brothers faltered[6] and Jeremy took over at age 28 when his father died in 1968.[8] Louis also at one point was the operator at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium and owned the Buffalo Bisons of the American Hockey League and the Cincinnati Royals of the National Basketball Association.

Jacobs has a Bachelor of Science degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Management, and attended the six-week Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.[11]

Career

Delaware North

Jacobs owns and operates the business founded by his father and uncles, Delaware North. Delaware North is a global hospitality and food service business headquartered in Buffalo, New York. The company operates in the lodging, sporting, airport, gaming and entertainment industries.

Delaware North also owns and manages TD Garden, home to the Boston Bruins and the Boston Celtics.[12] It was paid for with Jacobs' own funds.[13]

On January 6, 2015, Jacobs relinquished the title of CEO and named Jerry Jacobs Jr. and Louis Jacobs co-CEOs. He also named Charlie Jacobs CEO of Delaware North's Boston Holdings.[14]

Boston Bruins

Jacobs was listed for several years in a row as one of Sports Business Journal's Most Influential People in Sports. He was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame in Western New York in October 2006.[15]

Jacobs has owned the National Hockey League's Boston Bruins since 1975. Jacobs represents the club on the NHL's Board of Governors and serves on its executive committee. At the NHL Board of Governors meeting in June 2007, Jacobs was elected chairman. He replaced the Calgary Flames' Harley Hotchkiss, who stepped down after 12 years.

After years of disappointing performance, Jacobs replaced numerous general managers and coaches. Harry Sinden, the longtime president of the team, retired active work and moved into an advisory role. New management included Peter Chiarelli and head coach Claude Julien. Cam Neely, a former Bruins player, was also lured back to the new organization and was named president. These changes were effective. The Bruins record in the 2008–09 season was the second best in the NHL. In 2011, the Bruins won their first Stanley Cup in 39 years after beating the Vancouver Canucks in a seven-game series.

Jacobs was referred to as one of the "most militant hard-line" NHL owners responsible for the 2012–13 lockout.[16] Described as "villainous" and a "bully", he was reportedly hated by the players.[17] On the first day of the 2012–13 NHL season after the lockout ended, Jacobs blamed the Players' Association for the season's delay, saying of the union, "There was no expression of a desire to make a deal."[16]

Jacobs responded to reports that he was a "hard-liner" in the 2012–13 NHL lockout by saying he put the good of the league ahead of his own interest in keeping the players on the ice.[18] "I'm coming off winning a Stanley Cup (in 2011). I've got a sold-out building. I have a financially sound business. No Debt. Ownership for 37 years," he said. "I'm the last guy that wants to shut this down – absolutely the last one out there."[18]

Despite relinquishing the role of CEO to his son Charlie, he remains very active in the team and still holds the title of NHL Chairman of the Board of Governors.[19]

Forbes esimated his net worth to be US$2.8 billion in November 2021.[20]

Philanthropy

In 2007, Jacobs donated $1 million to support an endowed chair in immunology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. The gift was made to Roswell Park's Leaders for Life endowment campaign in honor of Jacobs' brother, the late Dr. Lawrence D. Jacobs, an immunology researcher who died in 2001.[21]

The University at Buffalo received a $10 million gift from Jacobs, his wife Margaret, and other family members on June 11, 2008, to establish the Jacobs Institute. The Jacobs Institute supports research and clinical collaboration on the causes, treatment, and prevention of heart and vascular diseases. This gift was also made in honor of his late brother, Lawrence. The Jacobs' gift was at the time the largest single gift ever made to the University at Buffalo. The donation also made the Jacobs family the university's most generous donor, with gifts totaling $18.4 million.[22] Jacobs has also served the University at Buffalo as chairman, trustee, and director of its foundation, chairman of the President's Board of Visitors, advisor to the School of Management, and as chairman of the University at Buffalo Council.[23]

The Jacobs family and their company, Delaware North, donated $250,000 to the Martin House Restoration Project in March 2012. They had made an earlier donation of $146,000. The project aims to restore the Darwin D. Martin House in Western New York, one of Frank Lloyd Wright's designs.[24]

In November 2012, Jacobs and his family announced a $1 million donation to the Say Yes Buffalo Scholarship. Say Yes Buffalo is "an education-based initiative that provides a powerful engine for long-term economic development, which will radically improve the life course of public school students in the City of Buffalo."[25]

In 2013, Jacobs paid for a two-year study on the nutrition and food preferences of cancer patients.[26] The study, called the Cancer Nutrition Consortium, focused on patient preferences and issues related to their ability to eat and drink while undergoing cancer treatment, including therapies like chemotherapy and radiation. The consortium aimed to help cancer patients make healthy choices that will support their treatment.[27]

On April 17, 2013, Jacobs announced that he had pledged $100,000 on behalf of the Bruins and its players to The One Fund Boston to help victims of the Boston Marathon bombing and their families.[28]

Jacobs, his wife, Margaret, and his family gave $30 million to the University at Buffalo's medical school at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The school was renamed the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The donation is the second largest ever in school history. The donation brought the Jacobs family's total contributions to the University at Buffalo to more than $50 million.[29]

Jacobs is also heavily involved in the funding of the Boston Bruins Foundation, which was founded and is chaired by his son Charlie. The Bruins Foundation provides grants to local organizations that seek to improve the lives of children through education, health, athletics, and a broad range of community outreach projects.[30]

In July 2015, Jacobs donated $250,000 to Iroquois Central High School in Elma, NY for the improvement of its athletic fields.[31] Part of Jacobs’ East Aurora, NY estate is located in Elma.

Other activities

Jacobs holds honorary doctorates from the University at Buffalo, Canisius College, Johnson and Wales University, and Niagara University, where he was awarded an honorary doctor of commercial science in October 2013.[32][33][34]

He is currently serving his second term on the U.S. Department of Commerce Travel and Tourism Advisory Board.[35] Members of the board are selected by the Secretary of Commerce and advise the Secretary on government policies and programs that affect the U.S. travel and tourism industry.

Jacobs has made substantial contributions to the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush, John Kerry, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, and John Edwards.[36] He reportedly contributed over $650,000 to municipal elections in the village of Wellington, Florida. The Jacobs family has been involved in a dispute with developer Mark Bellissimo over proposed development within Wellington's Equestrian Preserve of a major equestrian sports complex near his home in the village.[37]

Jacobs also owns an interest in NESN, the New England Sports Network, sharing ownership with John Henry, a friend and owner of the Boston Red Sox.

Personal life

Jacobs' father Louis was the owner of many sports teams along with his business empire that included owning the Cincinnati Royals of the National Basketball League, the Buffalo Bisons and the Providence Reds of the American Hockey League, the Buffalo Bisons of the International League in Minor League Baseball, and the Ice Follies along with being the owner of the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium and the Cincinnati Gardens.

Jacobs and his wife Margaret reside in Elma, New York and in Wellington, Florida. They have six children (three sons and three daughters), eighteen grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.[38] Their children are:

  • Jeremy "Jerry" Maurice Jacobs Jr., co-CEO of Delaware North Companies.[39] In 1990, he married Alice Carroll French, an attorney.[40]
  • Louis "Lou" Michael Jacobs, co-CEO of Delaware North.[41] In 1989, Louis married Joan Babcook in Buffalo.[42]
  • Charles "Charlie" Marvin Jacobs, CEO of Delaware North's Boston Holdings.[43] In 1999, Charlie married Kimberly Diane Warren, a model and actress.[44]
  • Margaret Lynn Jacobs, account executive at Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith in New York. In 1986, she married John Bartlett Reichenbach of Carlisle, Massachusetts.[45]
  • Katie Louise Jacobs married James D. Robinson IV in 1992.[46]
  • Lisann Jane Jacobs married John Victor Holten in Buffalo, New York in 1983.[47] They divorced; Lisann Jacobs is married to Dr. Bruce Platt.[48]

Awards and honors

References
  1. "Peter J. Karmanos 67 - Google Search". Archived from the original on 2020-05-04.
  2. "Jeremy Jacobs Sr". Forbes.com. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  3. Who's Who in Finance and Business - 2009-2010, 37th Edition (pub. 2009)
  4. University of Buffalo: Jacobs Management Center (JACOBS) - North Campus "The building honors the late Louis Jacobs and his wife, the late Genevieve Bibby Jacobs." retrieved December 3, 2012
  5. Delaware North Companies: "Genevieve Jacobs Award for Community Service" retrieved January 3, 2012
  6. Ocala Star Banner: "Fan-tastic Food - Delaware North to Dish Up Treats at New Arena" by John Affleck September 20, 1996
  7. Kornheiser, Tony. "The Past Haunts Brothers Who Own Convicted Sports Empire," The New York Times, Friday, October 7, 1977. Retrieved August 14, 2018
  8. Success.com: "Boston Bruins Owner Jeremy Jacobs Works for Peanuts - How he raised his father's concessions company to global heights" retrieved January 3, 2012 Archived October 8, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  9. "Delaware North Companies Incorporated - Dictionary definition of Delaware North Companies Incorporated | Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  10. Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame: Jeremy Jacobs retrieved January 3, 2012 Archived December 17, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  11. "Jeremy M. Jacobs | Boston Bruins". Bruins.nhl.com. 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  13. "A Life Lived Between Buffalo and Boston, With a Touch of Sports". The New York Times. 6 December 2014. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  14. "Jeremy Jacobs profile". Archived from the original on January 25, 2015. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  15. "Home". SportsBusiness Journal. 2016-12-23. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  16. Strang, Katie. "Bruins owner takes shots at NHLPA". Espn.go.com. January 19, 2013. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  17. Baker, Katie. "Commemorative NHL Lockout Trading Cards". Grantland.com. December 6, 2012. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
  18. "Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs apologizes for NHL lockout". Masslive.com. 2013-01-19. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  19. "Bettman: B's 'look toward the future' with Charlie Jacobs | Comcast SportsNet - CSNNE.com". www.csnne.com. Archived from the original on 26 February 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  20. "Forbes profile: Jeremy Jacobs, Sr". Forbes. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  21. "Endowment Funds". Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
  22. "Historic $10 Million Gift Will Retain and Recruit World-Class Researchers, Educators and Clinicians to UB and Western New York - University at Buffalo". Buffalo.edu. 2008-06-11. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  23. Corporate Bio: Jeremy M. Jacobs Archived October 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  24. "Delaware North Companies and Jacobs Family Make Major Gift to Further Martin House Restoration – Buffalo Rising". Buffalorising.com. 2012-03-14. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  25. "Delaware North Companies and the Jacobs Family Announce $1 Million Gift to Say Yes Buffalo Scholarship". Newsmakeralert.com. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  26. Malamut, Melissa (2013-11-14). "Bruins Owner Jeremy Jacobs Underwrote A Cancer Study". Boston Magazine. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  27. Weintraub, Karen (2013-12-02). "New nutrition group offers dietary help to cancer patients". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  28. Romanella, Mike (17 April 2013). "Bruins, NHL, NHLPA, TD Garden Teaming Up to Donate $250,000 to Boston Marathon Victims". NESN. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
  29. "Jacobs family gives $30 million to UB Medical School". The Buffalo News. 2015-09-14. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  30. "Boston Bruins Foundation- About | Boston Bruins". Bruins.nhl.com. 2016-10-01. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  31. "Jacobs Donates $250,000 to Iroquois | East Aurora Advertiser". East Aurora Advertiser. 2015-07-22. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  32. University at Buffalo: Jeremy M. Jacobs Archived October 4, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  33. "Delaware North Companies, Inc.: CEO and Executives - Bloomberg". Investing.businessweek.com. Archived from the original on December 15, 2013. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  34. "Jacobs, Rath, Zucchetti Honored During Niagara University Convocation | NU News". News.niagara.edu. Archived from the original on August 14, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  35. U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board Members Archived September 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  36. "U.S. Political News, Opinion and Analysis - HuffPost Politics | The Huffington Post". Fundrace.huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  37. "Wellington: Margolis ousts Bowen as mayor; Hostetler, Paglia win | www.palmbeachpost.com". www.palmbeachpost.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  38. "Jeremy M. Jacobs – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer" Archived February 19, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Biography. Delaware North Companies. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
  39. "Jerry Jacobs Jr". Executive Biographies. Delaware North. Retrieved January 3, 2012. Archived October 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  40. "Ms. French Weds J. M. Jacobs Jr." The New York Times. December 2, 1990.
  41. "Lou Jacobs". Executive Biographies. Delaware North. Retrieved January 3, 2012. Archived October 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  42. "Joan Babcook Weds Louis M. Jacobs". The New York Times. August 6, 1989
  43. "Charlie Jacobs". Executive Biographies. Delaware North. Retrieved January 3, 2012, Archived October 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  44. "WEDDINGS: Charles Jacobs and Kimberly Warren". The New York Times. February 7, 1999.
  45. "Lynn Jacobs, an Account Executive, To Wed John Reichenbach". The New York Times February 10, 1985.
  46. "WEDDINGS: Katie Jacobs, J. D. Robinson 4th". The New York Times. June 7, 1992.
  47. "John V. Holten Is Wed to Lisann Jacobs". The New York Times. April 10, 1983.
  48. "Erica Platt, Daniel Malin". The New York Times. July 30, 2010. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
  49. Benjamin, Amalie (August 13, 2015). "Bruins owner Jacobs to receive Lester Patrick Award". The Boston Globe. United States.
  50. "Selanne and Kariya are together again. Forever. - TSN.ca". 26 June 2017.
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