School of Music donor dies after giving $40 million

Barbara B. Jacobs died Tuesday morning just 12 days after giving a record $40.6 million to the IU School of Music. Jacobs, a 1948 IU graduate, died of cancer at age 79 in Cleveland.\nGwyn Richards, dean of the Jacobs School of Music, announced Jacobs' death in an e-mail to faculty, staff and students Tuesday.\n"Thanks to her legacy, the Jacobs School of Music will forever inspire and assist thousands of young musicians as they pursue a life in music," Richards said in the e-mail.\nThe gift is the largest gift from an individual ever given to a school of music at a public university, and the largest single gift ever given to IU by individuals. The money will be used for graduate student fellowships, undergraduate scholarships and endowed faculty positions.\nIn honor of the Jacobs family and their continued support of IU, the music school was renamed the IU Jacobs School of Music, and an official naming ceremony will be held in late February.\nJacobs was involved in IU affairs for decades. A member of the IU Foundation's Board of Directors from 1989 until her death, she helped raise more than $500 million for academic endowments, according to a press release. She was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2000 and received the Thomas Hart Benton Mural Medallion. Jacobs was also well known in Ohio and Florida for her longtime support of the arts, education and other philanthropic interests.\nRichards, IU President Adam Herbert and other University officials met with Jacobs in her home Nov. 16 to thank her for her gift and discuss its impact. Jacobs was able to see the official proceedings of the donation's announcement via a DVD specially made by the music school.\nDavid Jacobs Sr., Barbara's late husband, was instrumental in the revitalization of downtown Cleveland. He and his brother Richard owned the Cleveland Indians from 1986 to 2000, and Jacobs Field is named after the family. He built shopping centers, office buildings and hotels. David Jacobs Sr. died in 1992.\n"For more than five decades, Jacobs family members have been connected to the University as students, alumni, friends, volunteers and donors. Nothing speaks more strongly to their love for IU and commitment to its continued excellence than this extraordinary gift for the School of Music," said Curt Simic, president of the IU Foundation, in a Nov. 17 press release.\nJacobs graduated from IU in 1948. Her husband and two children also attended IU, and her son David Jr. was "instrumental in inspiring the gift" according to a Nov. 17 press release. David Jr. studied at the School of Music in the 1970s and was present for the Nov. 17 announcement.