Jeremy Jacobs Biography

Jeremy Maurice Jacobs, Sr. (born January 21, 1940) is the owner of the Boston Bruins and is also Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Delaware North Companies. Forbes magazine ranks him as #634 of the world's billionaires. He was listed by Forbes magazine for his philanthropic endeavors.

Early life and education

Jeremy is the son of Genevieve (nee Bibby) and Louis Jacobs, the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland. 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. His father took over the company in the 1950s when the health of his brothers faltered and Jeremy took over at age 28 when his father died in 1968.

Jacobs has a B.A. from the University of Buffalo's School of Management and completed the Harvard School of Business Advanced Management Program.

Delaware North Companies

Jacobs owns and operates the business founded by his father and uncles, Delaware North Companies. Delaware North is a global hospitality and food service business headquartered in Buffalo, N.Y. It is one of the largest privately held companies in North America. The company operates in the lodging, sporting, airport, gaming and entertainment industries. The company employs over 55,000 people worldwide and has over $2.5 billion in annual revenues.

Delaware North also owns and manages TD Garden, home to the Bruins and the Boston Celtics, and one of the top concert and sports venues in North America.

Boston Bruins

Jacobs is well known in the sports industry, including being 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.

Since 1975, Jacobs has owned the National Hockey League's Boston Bruins. 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 of the Board, replacing the Calgary Flames' Harley Hotchkiss, who stepped down after 12 years in the position.

The NHL has referred to Jacobs as the driving force behind getting the Winter Classic to Boston on January 1, 2010.

After years of disappointing on-ice performance by the hockey club, Jacobs made changes in management of the Bruins, with the retirement of veteran team president Harry Sinden from active management of the team into an advisory capacity. New management included Peter Chiarelli and head coach Claude Julien. Cam Neely, a former Bruin player, was also lured back to the new organization and was recently named by Jacobs as President.

In recent years, the changes have paid dividends. The Bruins record in the 2008-2009 season was the second best in the NHL. In 2011, the Bruins won their first Stanley Cup in 39 years, beating the Vancouver Canucks in a seven game series.

Jacobs was one of the "most militant hard-line" NHL owners responsible for the 2012"13 lockout. Described as "villainous" and a "bully", he was reportedly hated by the players. 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."

Philanthropy

An active philanthropist, Jacobs gives millions of dollars to national and community based charities each year. Jacobs' work with the United Way has not only benefited the communities where the company operates, it has also earned him the designation as part of the Million-Dollar Roundtable of donors. Jacobs is also a member of the Jeremiah Milbank Society, recognizing him for his strong support to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

In 2007, Jacobs provided a $1 million gift with his family to support an endowed chair in Immunology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI). The gift was made to RPCI's Leaders for Life endowment campaign in honor of Jacobs' brother, the late Lawrence D. Jacobs, MD, an immunology researcher who died in 2001.

The University at Buffalo announced on June 11, 2008, a $10 million gift from Jacobs, his wife, Margaret, and family to establish the Jacobs Institute, which will support research and clinical collaboration on the causes, treatment and prevention of heart and vascular diseases. Again, the gift was made in honor of his late brother, Lawrence. The Jacobs' gift was at the time the largest single gift ever to UB. The donation also made the Jacobs family the university's most generous benefactor, with gifts totaling $18.4 million. Jacobs is also a benefactor of the University at Buffalo and has served as chairman, trustee and director of the UB Foundation, chairman of the President's Board of Visitors, and advisor to the School of Management in addition to serving as chairman of the University at Buffalo Council since 1998.

The Jacobs family and their company Delaware North Companies donated $250,000 to the Martin House Restoration Project in March 2012, following up on an earlier donation of $146,000. The project aims to restore the Martin House in Western NY, one of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright's designs.

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." The initiative aims to help improve education for students living in poverty in and around Buffalo, NY.

On April 17, 2013, Jacobs announced that he had pledged $100,000 on behalf of the Bruins organization and players to The One Fund Boston, supporting Boston Marathon victims and their families.

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.

Other activities

Jacobs holds honorary doctorates from the University at Buffalo, Canisius College and Johnson and Wales University.

He is currently serving his second term on the U.S. Department of Commerce Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. 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, as well as contributing over $650,000 to municipal elections in the village of Wellington, Florida, in a dispute with developer Mark Bellissimo over equestrian sports near his home.

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

He and his wife Margaret reside in East Aurora, New York and in Wellington, Florida. They have six children (three sons and three daughters), eighteen grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Their children are:

• Jeremy "Jerry" Maurice Jacobs Jr., principal of Delaware North Companies. In 1990, he married Alice Carroll French, an attorney, in a Presbyterian ceremony.
• Louis "Lou" Michael Jacobs, principal of Delaware North Companies. In 1989, Louis married Joan Babcook at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Cathedral in Buffalo. They live in East Aurora, New York, and Wellington, Florida, with their daughter and son.
• Charles "Charlie" Marvin Jacobs, principal of Delaware North Companies. In 1999, Charlie married Kimberly Diane Warren, a model and actress, in an Episcopalian and Roman Catholic ceremony. They have three children.
• Margaret Lynn Jacobs, account executive at Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith in New York. In 1986, she married John Bartlett Reichenbach of Carlisle, Massachusetts.
• Katie Louise Jacobs, married James Dixon Robinson 4th in a Roman Catholic ceremony in 1992.
• Lisann Jane Jacobs, married John Victor Holten of Norway at St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church in Buffalo in 1983.