JACOBS UNIVERSITY BREMEN

Campus community mourns the passing of Klaus J. Jacobs

   

On September 11, 2008 the great entrepreneur and patron of science, Klaus J. Jacobs, passed away. He was 71.

[ Sep 12, 2008]  Jacobs University President Joachim Treusch said: “We are in deep mourning for Klaus J. Jacobs, our thoughts and condolences are with his family. We have not only lost a great patron of the university but also a great friend. His continuous commitment and his support of science is unequaled. The unique investment of the Jacobs Foundation in our university marked a starting point for significant donations of private patrons to support education and science. We are proud to bear the name Jacobs University.”

The 200 million euro investment of the Jacobs Foundation in 2006 was the largest private sum which had ever been donated to a university in Europe. Klaus Jacobs set a spectacular example world wide in promoting a unique university. In 2003 the Jacobs Foundation already supported the university by enabling the establishment of the Jacobs Center on Lifelong Learning and Institutional Development with a donation of more than 10 million CHF.

For Klaus J. Jacobs it was a major concern to support young people in their development and education and to prepare them for the challenges of an ever changing world. As keynote speaker of the 2007 graduation at Jacobs University, he emphazised that the Foundation’s decision to commit not only 200 million euros, but also their family name to the university, reflected a willingness to invest in the future of young people. He believed that providing them with an excellent and lasting education is the key to the future of our society and a goal that Jacobs University embodies in an exemplary way.

Klaus J. Jacobs' significant commitment to science, research and society has been widely acknowledged. In 2007 alone he received the highest tribute of his hometown Bremen, The Gold Medal of Honor in April; and in July the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities) bestowed the Leibniz Medal 2008 to entrepreneur Klaus J. Jacobs in recognition of his services in supporting the sciences and humanities.

Klaus J. Jacobs was born in Bremen in 1936. He studied in Hamburg before entering the Bremen based family business, Jacobs AG, in 1962. In 1972 he became the chief executive officer. In 1982 Jacobs AG fused with Interfood to form Jacobs Suchard AG; which was sold in 1990 to Phillip Morris and was renamed Kraft Jacobs Suchard. In the same year the world’s largest temporary employment agency Adecco SA was created through several mergers, especially the firms Adia Interim and Ecco. From 1995 to 2006 Klaus Jacobs was the President of Addecco SA, and later became its honorary president.

In addition to his business ventures, Klaus Jacobs founded the non-profit Jacobs Foundation in 1988 for the development and sponsorship of young people around the world. In 2001 the foundation supported the founding of the Jacobs Center on Lifelong Learning and Institutional Development was established at Jacobs University (then International University Bremen), which was opened in 2003. Since 2004 the Jacobs Foundation has supported children in Bremen by offering summer language camps for immigrant children with a deficit in the German language. In 2006 the foundation made the generous 200 million euro investment in International University Bremen, which was renamed Jacobs University Bremen in 2007.



The Jacobs Foundation
The Jacobs Foundation wants to unlock young people’s potential and help them to become productive and socially responsible members of society. This is why we are helping future generations to meet the challenges of a fast changing world. Experience shows that young people who are on the path to realizing their potential make an easier transition to the working life.

The Jacobs Foundation is committed to creating a real and sustainable impact, both by financing research in the field of youth development and by supporting the development of professional and social skills of young people around the world. Investing in what we call “Productive Youth Development” means an investment in a better future.

We support academic research, as well as pilot projects in the field of intervention and application, which aim to achieve immediate practical results and provide best-practice examples for future projects. As we set up dialogue and develop networks, we promote issues where our expertise has been demonstrated and prepare the ground for Productive Youth Development.

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Author: wlaine-naida. Last updated on 12.09.2008. © 2008 Jacobs University Bremen, Campus Ring 1, 28759 Bremen. All rights reserved. No unauthorized reproduction. http://www.jacobs-university.de. For all general inquiries, please call the university at +49 421 200-40 or mail to info@jacobs-university.de.