Jeremy Jacobs
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Jeremy Jacobs, Sr., perhaps best known as the owner of the Boston Bruins, is also Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Delaware North Companies (founded by his his father), a global hospitality and food service business, and one of the largest privately held companies in North America[1]. Forbes magazine ranks him as #746 of the world's billionaires [2].
As owner of the National Hockey League's Boston Bruins, Jacobs represents the club on the NHL's Board of Governors, and serves on its Executive Committee. His company also owns and operates TD Banknorth Garden, home to the Bruins and the Boston Celtics. Jacobs owns an interest in NESN, the New England Sports Network, sharing ownership with John Henry, a friend and owner of the Boston Red Sox.
Jacobs' Delaware North also owns and manages TD Banknorth Garden, one of the top concert and sports venues in North America. [1]The arena has been recognized by many industry publications as one of the top arenas in the country. Arena industry publication Venues Today ranked the TD Banknorth Garden as the No. 3 arena in the country for 2006. Home to approximately 200 public events annually, the TD Banknorth Garden hosts well over 3.5 million people each year.
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.
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. His ownership of the Bruins has been controversial, as some in Boston have called him an absentee owner, interested more in keeping costs down than in achieving on-ice success. A 2002 poll at ESPN.com ranked him as the "worst owner in sports" [3].
He has also been a leader in United States tourism. He has been appointed to a second term on the U.S. Department of Commerce Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. He has made donations to the political campaigns of George W. Bush, John Kerry, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, and John Edwards [4]
An active philanthropist, Jacobs has gives millions of dollar to national and community based charities each year.[citation needed] 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 Mr. Jacobs’ brother, the late Lawrence D. Jacobs, MD, an internationally renowned immunology researcher who died in 2001. [2].
The University at Buffalo (SUNY at Buffalo) announced on June 11, 2008, a $10 million gift from Jeremy M. 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. The gift was made in honor of Lawrence D. Jacobs, M.D., a world-renowned medical pioneer and the late brother of Jeremy Jacobs. Lawrence Jacobs was chair of the Department of Neurology in UB's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and chief of neurology at Buffalo General Hospital at the time of his death. The Jacobs' gift is the largest single gift ever to UB and makes the Jacobs family the university's most generous donor, with gifts totaling $18.4 million.[3].
