May 14, 1998

An endowment fund has been established at the Orthodox Union (OU) in memory of Pearl and Harold M. Jacobs, lifelong activists and advocates for Orthodox Jewry. The endowment was funded by gifts from the three Jacobs children – Vivian Jacobs Chill of Manhattan, Joseph Jacobs of Brooklyn and Paul Jacobs of Toronto.

Given Harold and Pearl Jacobs’ lifelong passion for education, the endowment will be used to further OU’s NCSY educational programs for teen-agers and college-age youth and the OU’s Yachad programs for the developmentally disabled. In addition, the OU has established the Pearl and Harold M. Jacobs Shabbat Learning Center, the largest resource for Shabbat-related Torah material on the internet.

For most of his life, Harold Jacobs was immersed in the public arena, passionately and courageously articulating the concerns and the needs of Orthodox Jewry. Joining the Orthodox Union -- the nation’s largest and oldest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization -- in the 1940s, Mr. Jacobs spent the early years raising the level of Kashruth standards and combating the gross violations of Torah law in funeral practices.

In the later years, Mr. Jacobs assumed the position of  President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the OU where he served as a pivotal force in the historic struggle to free Soviet Jewry. During his presidency, Mr. Jacobs emphasized the growth and expansion of NCSY, the largest Jewish international youth organization, and brought the Union into a new era of fiscal stability. Ultimately, his multi-faceted service to the Union extended for more than five decades.

Possessing a lifelong interest in higher education, politics and Orthodox Jewish affairs, Mr. Jacobs was responsible for the passage of the first Fair Sabbath Legislation in New York State, a law enabling businessmen who close their stores on the Sabbath to open them on Sunday. Mr. Jacobs also helped establish a kosher kitchen at Cornell University, the first of its kind at an American college campus.

A prominent figure in New York’s politics, Mr. Jacobs was Treasurer of the victorious election campaign of his close friend, Mayor Abraham Beame, New York City’s first Jewish mayor. On the national scene, Mr. Jacobs was selected by the people of the State of New York as an Elector in the Electoral College for the Presidential election of 1968.

Deeply concerned about furthering Jewish education, Mr. Jacobs served as Chairman of Operation Head Start for Torah U’Mesorah where he spearheaded the successful early intervention program, providing Jewish children from deprived homes with much-needed schooling.

As the Chairman of the NY Board of Higher Education during the 1970s New York City fiscal crisis, Mr. Jacobs was instrumental in saving the City University system from fiscal collapse. He also led a group of Board of Higher Education trustees in ousting Professor Leonard Jeffries from his chairmanship at the City College of New York because of his anti-Semitic statements, an action ultimately vindicated by New York State's highest Federal Court.

A man of remarkable energy and vision, Mr. Jacobs was a tireless supporter of an entire range of Jewish and philanthropic institutions. He served as President of the Crown Heights Yeshiva, the National Council of Young Israel, the Young Israel of Eastern Parkway, the Brooklyn Jewish Community Council, as well of various United Jewish Appeal and Israel Bond Drives. He also served on the boards of Touro College, Medgar Evars College, the United States Naval War College, Yeshivas Chaim Berlin, Yeshivas Torah Vodaath, the Jewish Agency Executive, Religious Zionists of America and other philanthropic and educational institutions.

Mr. Jacobs received an honorary Doctorate Degree from William Patterson College as well as the Jabotinsky Award for service to Zionism and the State of Israel.

Sharing her husband’s conviction and passion for Judaism, Pearl Jacobs also spent much of her time and energy supporting Jewish life. Among her long list of communal activities, she was involved in AMIT Women, the mikveh in Crown Heights and the Young Israel of Eastern Parkway.

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