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JEROME JACOBSON 1930-2020
Jerry was known for treasuring tradition in his work as an archaeologist, in honoring his family’s Jewish heritage, and in decades of efforts to preserve historic structures in and around Springfield. He also found local fame as an ardent supporter of Springfield High’s athletes, cheering them on at scores of games. He loved good jokes–particularly if they involved puns--and had a great sense of humor. He was very fond of vintage show tunes and especially liked the songs of Frank Sinatra and Rodgers and Hammerstein. He knew hundreds of songs and sang one or two for every occasion. Jerry listened to the radio constantly and especially valued NPR. He was devoted to his family and friends and created much-appreciated clever limericks for family celebrations. He loved life and wanted to know what was going on all over the world. His playfulness, laughter, kindness, and zest for living are deeply missed. In June, Jerry happily celebrated his 90th birthday with well-wishers at home and on Zoom. He greatly enjoyed the occasion, which was enhanced by lilting Scottish bagpipe music and dancing performed by Springfield’s UnitedWePipe ensemble. Jerry Jacobson’s name was familiar to readers of the State Journal-Register and the Illinois Times, since over the years both papers published several articles about his preservation efforts and his cheerleading, as well as his frequent Letters to the Editor. On August 27, 2020, a lively article about his passing by Bernard Schoenburg appeared in the SJ-R--“Jacobson Was One of a Kind: Jerry Jacobson had Passion for Save Old Springfield, SHS Sports.” ). Jerry was born in the Bronx, NY, on June 13, 1930, to Bernard and Julia Riegelhaupt Jacobson, with two older brothers, Nathan (wife Ethel) and Berton (wife Jean) Jacobson, now all deceased. His parents and oldest brother, then a small child, immigrated from southern Poland in the 1920s, sponsored by a generous uncle who invited them to settle in New York. Thus they escaped the Holocaust which took the lives of many of their close relatives who remained in Poland. Jerry often stated that if not for Uncle Ferdinand Jacobson, he would not have remained alive, nor would his children and grandchildren ever have been born. He went on to earn a B.S. degree at the City College of New York, which then offered free tuition, an important benefit for students of modest means. He lived at home and spent a nickel each way for the subway ride to and from college. He was always proud of City College, where scores of future community leaders, scholars, scientists, authors, and Nobel Prize winners were educated. Jerry wrote a sports column for the college newspaper, played a bit of football, and co-founded the Allagarooters student booster club. He also wrote sports articles for the New York Herald Tribune. In 2019, Jerry was quoted in The City Game, a book detailing a major 1951 sports controversy at City College. After graduation, he served for two years in the US Army during the Korean War. With his journalism background, he was assigned to writing for Army publications, including a newsletter for an orphanage in Pusan (now Busan), Korea. For his well-regarded efforts he was awarded a Bronze Star. Returning to New York, he oversaw publicity for a Long Beach hotel and worked in two public relations firms. Among his clients were actress Anne Bancroft and the glittering musician Liberace. He enjoyed lunching with these celebrities as well as many others. One day a friend asked him what he would really like to do in life, and he replied, “Be an archaeologist.” She suggested that he use his GI Bill funding to study archaeology, and that’s exactly what he did. He cut back on his publicity work and enrolled in graduate school in the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University. Jerry participated in archaeological digs in New York State as well as at Dickson Mounds, Illinois. He led a team excavating a prehistoric site at Tottenville, on Staten Island, and wrote up his research for his M.A., later published by the Staten Island Museum. Continuing on for his Ph.D., he joined an archaeological expedition surveying for prehistoric stone tools north of the Brooks Range in Alaska. The expedition group of five men walked many miles for weeks across the barren tundra, led by Professor Ralph Solecki, famed for discovering Neanderthal skeletons in Shanidar Cave in Kurdistan, Iraq. Alone at one point, Jerry was alarmed to see a huge grizzly bear running straight for him. He could hear it grunting and smell its breath. Jerry grappled for his rifle in his backpack–and at that moment the grizzly swerved away and kept running on. Whew! At Columbia, Jerry met Dorothy Ann “Doranne” Wilson, newly arrived from the University of Michigan. They were married in 1963 and soon set out on a new adventure–conducting their doctoral research in Central India. They traveled via Europe and Turkey, where they briefly worked on an archaeological project at Suberde, in south-central Anatolia. In the state of Madhya Pradesh, India, Doranne, a cultural anthropologist, focused her studies on the lives of women in the small village where they lived for two years. Jerry concentrated on excavating microliths (very small prehistoric stone tools) from deposits in rock shelters adorned with ancient wall paintings. There in the Indian jungle he met another threatening bear face to face, but it too failed to attack. Jerry and Doranne traveled all over India and developed many warm friendships with the people they met. For eleven years, Jerry taught as a professor in the Department of Anthropology at CCNY, his alma mater. During that time, their children Laurie and Josh were born. The family resided at 800 Riverside Drive in New York City and later moved to suburban Closter, N.J. Jerry and his family traveled to India frequently, and he conducted further research there, seeking large Paleolithic stone handaxes in the rocky Vindhyan hills. Several academic articles and books resulted from his archaeological research. In 1980, the family moved to Springfield, where Jerry worked at the Illinois State Museum and then for nearly two decades at the Illinois Department of Transportation, coordinating transportation projects affecting historic buildings and bridges. Inspired by Lincoln’s lingering presence, Jerry was for more than 30 years a leading local historic preservationist, serving on historic preservation commissions for Springfield and Sangamon County. He co-founded the former Historic Preservation Association of Springfield and directed the non-profit consultancy Save Old Springfield. Through his commission work, Jerry initiated important amendments to the city Historic Sites ordinance, launched a project that recorded city historic landmarks, and managed a search for pre-Civil War farmhouses that revealed the oldest house in the county–an 1823 log cabin. He acted as a watchdog for endangered local historic sites and was praised by then-Governor James Edgar for his role in saving some major buildings in the city. He often used his publicist skills to alert the media and the public about historic structures threatened with demolition. He was pleased to be honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards from Downtown Springfield and from the Springfield Historic Sites Commission. Jerry also devoted his efforts and financial resources to saving the historic Judge John W. Taylor House on Springfield’s East Side. Dating from 1857, the house had fallen into serious disrepair. With Jerry’s leadership, the house was saved from the wrecking ball and its restoration begun. In 2014, Jerry and Doranne donated the house, along with a substantial sum for its further restoration, to The Springfield Project, for future rehabilitation and public use. Jerry enjoyed the outdoors and spent many summers at the family cottage at Hope Bay, Ontario. There he swam many long laps and navigated the beautiful Great Lakes waters in a tiny sailboat. As a homeowner in New Jersey and Illinois, he also loved gardening and doing yard work, pleasures unfamiliar to him as a young person growing up in a Bronx apartment. Jerry encouraged his children in their studies and sports at Springfield High School and later became an enthusiastic supporter of all of SHS’s sports teams, echoing his youthful interest in sports. After his retirement and until the end of his life, despite using a wheelchair in recent years, he tried to attend as many games as possible, leading cheers for the teams. He became a fixture at games, and the kids loved him. They took to chanting “Jerry!! Jerry!!” and presented him with team paraphernalia. An emoji was created in his honor. The cheerleaders awarded him an engraved plaque thanking him for his dedication to their sports teams, and the football team signed a football-shaped panel thanking him for being their “12th Man.” Jerry was pleased to think he might have been the oldest cheerleader in America. Jerry was a dedicated member of Temple Israel for forty years, serving on various Temple committees and enjoying the beautiful traditions of worship there. He strongly believed in environmental protection and social and economic justice, spoke out against prejudice, and participated in peace marches. He and Doranne joined the 1963 March on Washington and heard Martin Luther King deliver his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. At a 2002 rally in the Springfield Armory, Jerry pulled a NO WAR banner out from inside his US Army shirt and waved it before a US President advocating war against Iraq. He contributed annually to many charities and activist groups. As a global traveler, Jerry visited more than sixty countries and was well aware of the challenges experienced by many around the world. He was especially touched by a 1973 visit to his parents’ ancestral villages in southern Poland and seeing the mass grave where several of his relatives were interred after they were shot by the Nazis. He had many delightful experiences during his travels, such as climbing pyramids in Mexico, biking to King Tut’s tomb in Egypt, admiring the Great Buddhas at Bamiyan in Afghanistan, offering flowers at Hindu temples in Bali, meeting tribespeople in Ethiopia, exploring medieval fortresses in Bhutan, seeing over 500 elephants in a single day in Tanzania, sledding in Kashmir, and helping to pull Lord Jagannath’s temple cart in Odisha, India. For over half a century, he cherished a special bond to India and its hospitable people. Jerry is survived by his loving wife of 57 years, Doranne, and his beloved children; Laurie Grace Sarah Jacobson (husband Howard Willson) of Medina, WA, and Joshua Robert Russell Jacobson (wife Rachel Saunders) of San Francisco, as well as five deeply loved grandchildren; Noah Willson, Talia Willson, Theodore Jacobson, Charlotte Saunders, and Lydia Jacobson. He is also survived by other cherished relatives, including three sisters-in-law; Jacqueline Wilson (husband Kenneth Okulolo), Pamela Wilson Sartorelli (husband William Sartorelli, Jr.), Wendy Wilson (partner Steve Stuebner), numerous nephews and nieces, several grand-nephews and grand-nieces, and many cousins. Temple Israel held a Zoom memorial service for Jerry on August 25, 2020, with more than a hundred U.S. and international participants. Another Zoom memorial event was held at the Department of Archaeology, Deccan College, Pune, India, honoring Jerry’s contributions to Indian archaeology. Jerry’s memory will long be treasured by those who knew him and enjoyed his enthusiasm for the beauties and pleasures of life.
A Celebration of the Life of Dr. Jerome "Jerry" Jacobson Virtual Memorial Gathering, 3pm CT (Illinois), 1pm PT (California), 4pm ET (East Coast) (Thank you for attending; the event has concluded. A recording is available - please reach out to jmania@stanfordalumni.org for the video link) Program Opening readings & psalms Eulogy Family Memories
Music Concluding Memorial Prayer and Kaddish Notes
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