Robert Lee Jacobs - Judge Jacobs dies at 95
Sentinel, The (Carlisle, PA) - August 12, 2006
Robert Lee Jacobs, who was the youngest state senator in Pennsylvania history when elected in Cumberland County in 1936, died Friday in Holy Spirit Hospital near Camp Hill.
Jacobs, 95, served nine years on Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas and then went on to spend 15 years on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, retiring as president judge.
"Our father was very popular," said Bessie Jamieson Boyle as she and her sister, Ann Compton, reflected on his life Friday afternoon.
"He was a down-to-earth person —- not snooty," Boyle said.
And "he was comfortable" with everyone from farmers to "big-time lawyers," Compton added.
After leaving the court, the judge became chairman of the board of The Frog, Switch & Manufacturing Co. in Carlisle. He had been on the board since 1952.
A native of Carlisle who lived there most of his life, Jacobs moved to Camp Hill in the mid 1990s following the death of his wife, Ann Blaine Hays, in 1994.
Jacobs graduated from Dickinson College and then Dickinson School of Law, both in Carlisle, and began practicing law with his father, a former Cumberland County district attorney, in 1935.
Both were registered Democrats in a largely Republican county. But members of both parties liked the young lawyer, according to Boyle and Compton.
"He was very personable with people," not to mention "good looking and handsome," Boyle said.
"He was an old-time small-town lawyer," Compton added.
In a talk Jacobs gave to Cumberland County Historical Society in 1991, the judge described being approached by the Democratic county chairman and asked to run for the 31st District state Senate seat even though he was only 25.
Jacobs recalled campaigning door-to-door — and especially the day he approached a five-man work crew in a ditch near Shiremanstown.
"They were being watched by an older man who had a hook for one hand," he said. "I handed out my card to everyone there and asked for their consideration at the election. Without a word, the man with the hook hand took my card, held it on a post with his hook and tore it in two. Immediately every man in the ditch tore up my card.
"That was the low point of my political career."
The high point came soon after, however, when Franklin Roosevelt stopped in Harrisburg during his re-election campaign and Jacobs sat with him on the stage.
"One hundred and fifty thousand people were gathered below to hear the president," he recalled. "He came on the stand by a special ramp with the use of his two canes. He wore a naval cape and his head was bare. As he delivered his address in his melodious voice, the wind blew his hair and his cape."
He added: "You can imagine the effect this event had on a young political neophyte and the enthusiasm it gave me to resume by door-to-door campaigning the next day."
Jacobs won the election. Being on the same ticket as Roosevelt, who was reelected in a landslide, no doubt helped.
"He came in on the coat-tails of FDR," Boyle said.
Jacobs served in the state Senate for four years.
When World War II broke out, he tried to join the Army but was told he didn't weigh enough. He had his tonsils removed in an effort to gain weight and eventually was able to join the Navy. He spent the war years working in Washington, D.C., and was discharged as a lieutenant.
After the war Jacobs returned to Carlisle and resumed practicing law, joining forces with young William Martson.
In 1955 Jacobs ran for Cumberland County judge against the incumbent, Republican Mark E. Garber, and again outside events affected his campaign.
Judge Garber was on the stand in the courthouse on the Square in Carlisle when a defendant in a support case pulled out a gun and started shooting, killing one of his estranged wife's lawyers and injuring the other lawyer and the judge.
Jacobs announced he would not campaign until his opponent had recovered, and figured his cause was lost. However, this gesture endeared him to voters and prompted several praising newspaper editorials — and Jacobs won.
"It turned out to be a very good move," Boyle said.
Jacobs was elected to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania in 1964 and became president judge in 1978.
In 1979 he became chairman of the board of Frog, Switch, on whose board he had already served for two decades. He retired in 1995, having overseen an era at the company that included new technology, new products and a financial base far sounder than it had been during the 1970s and 1960s, family members say.
Raphael Hays, the president of Frog, Switch, said he remembers Jacobs' tremendous sense of humor.
"He was very much liked at the plant," Hays said. "People had great respect for him."
Hays says he was on the company's board with Jacobs for six or seven years.
"He helped an awful lot," Hays said of Jacobs.
He was also an avid sportsman, playing golf regularly until just a few years ago. He was a member of Carlisle Country Club and the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, N.C.
During his Dickinson years he played on the college tennis team. Hays said Jacobs won all of his tennis matches in his senior year.
He was a fly fisherman fond of the streams around Carlisle and was an enthusiastic bird hunter.
He also became an avid horseman and fox hunter. He was a member of the Beaufort Hunt in Harrisburg and the Moore County Hounds in Southern Pines.
Compton, who lives in Southern Pines, N.C., said her father's love for horses rubbed off on her. She starting riding horses with him at a young age, when her father was 35 years old. Compton is now a real estate broker for country estates and horse farms and is a "professional horse person."
Boyle, who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., as well as Carlisle, teaches at a jewelry school in Manhattan and makes jewelry for a living.
"He instilled a great sense of drive and ambition in both of us," Boyle said of her father. "He had a strong work ethic."
She said she remembers him standing up in the state Senate once and saying "I don't think we should be paid because we haven't done any work for three weeks."
His comment ended up all over the papers, Boyle said.
Aside from his two daughters, Jacobs is survived by four grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and his companion, Betty Page Hafer.
***********************************
Patriot-News, The (Harrisburg, PA) - Sunday, August 13, 2006
Honorable Robert Lee Jacobs, 95, of Camp Hill, and a former longtime resident of Carlisle, passed away Friday, August 11, 2006 at Holy Spirit Hospital, Camp Hill.
He was born December 17, 1910, in Carlisle, a son of the late T. Ralph Jacobs and Alma (Lee) Jacobs.
Judge Jacobs was married to the late Ann (Hays) Jacobs, who died in 1994. He was a 1928 graduate of Carlisle High School, a 1932 graduate of Dickinson College and a 1935 graduate of Dickinson School of Law, Carlisle. He also held honorary degrees from both Dickinson College and Dickinson School of Law.
At age 25, he was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate, which at the time was the youngest person ever elected to serve in the Senate. He was a Veteran of World War II having served as a Lieutenant in the U. S. Navy. He was a judge for the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas from 1956 to 1964 and then served on the Pennsylvania Superior Court from 1964 until he retired as president judge in 1979.
After his retirement, he became the Chairman of the Board (1979-1994) and Chief Executive Officer (1979-1989) of Frog Switch & Manufacturing Company in Carlisle.
Judge Jacobs was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church, Carlisle, the American Bar Association and many civic organizations in the Carlisle area.
He was preceded in death by a sister, Mary Lee Jacobs Sayers.
He is survived by his two daughters, Elizabeth Jamieson Boyle of Brooklyn, NY and Carlisle and Ann Compton of Southern Pines, NC; 4 grandchildren, 5 great grandchildren; and his companion Betty Page Hafer.
Memorial services will be held Wednesday, August 16, 2006 at 12 Noon in St. John's Episcopal Church, On the Square in Carlisle with Rev. Dr. Mark A. Scheneman officiating. Burial will be private in Ashland Cemetery, Carlisle.
Sentinel, The (Carlisle, PA) - August 12, 2006
Robert Lee Jacobs, who was the youngest state senator in Pennsylvania history when elected in Cumberland County in 1936, died Friday in Holy Spirit Hospital near Camp Hill.
Jacobs, 95, served nine years on Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas and then went on to spend 15 years on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, retiring as president judge.
"Our father was very popular," said Bessie Jamieson Boyle as she and her sister, Ann Compton, reflected on his life Friday afternoon.
"He was a down-to-earth person —- not snooty," Boyle said.
And "he was comfortable" with everyone from farmers to "big-time lawyers," Compton added.
After leaving the court, the judge became chairman of the board of The Frog, Switch & Manufacturing Co. in Carlisle. He had been on the board since 1952.
A native of Carlisle who lived there most of his life, Jacobs moved to Camp Hill in the mid 1990s following the death of his wife, Ann Blaine Hays, in 1994.
Jacobs graduated from Dickinson College and then Dickinson School of Law, both in Carlisle, and began practicing law with his father, a former Cumberland County district attorney, in 1935.
Both were registered Democrats in a largely Republican county. But members of both parties liked the young lawyer, according to Boyle and Compton.
"He was very personable with people," not to mention "good looking and handsome," Boyle said.
"He was an old-time small-town lawyer," Compton added.
In a talk Jacobs gave to Cumberland County Historical Society in 1991, the judge described being approached by the Democratic county chairman and asked to run for the 31st District state Senate seat even though he was only 25.
Jacobs recalled campaigning door-to-door — and especially the day he approached a five-man work crew in a ditch near Shiremanstown.
"They were being watched by an older man who had a hook for one hand," he said. "I handed out my card to everyone there and asked for their consideration at the election. Without a word, the man with the hook hand took my card, held it on a post with his hook and tore it in two. Immediately every man in the ditch tore up my card.
"That was the low point of my political career."
The high point came soon after, however, when Franklin Roosevelt stopped in Harrisburg during his re-election campaign and Jacobs sat with him on the stage.
"One hundred and fifty thousand people were gathered below to hear the president," he recalled. "He came on the stand by a special ramp with the use of his two canes. He wore a naval cape and his head was bare. As he delivered his address in his melodious voice, the wind blew his hair and his cape."
He added: "You can imagine the effect this event had on a young political neophyte and the enthusiasm it gave me to resume by door-to-door campaigning the next day."
Jacobs won the election. Being on the same ticket as Roosevelt, who was reelected in a landslide, no doubt helped.
"He came in on the coat-tails of FDR," Boyle said.
Jacobs served in the state Senate for four years.
When World War II broke out, he tried to join the Army but was told he didn't weigh enough. He had his tonsils removed in an effort to gain weight and eventually was able to join the Navy. He spent the war years working in Washington, D.C., and was discharged as a lieutenant.
After the war Jacobs returned to Carlisle and resumed practicing law, joining forces with young William Martson.
In 1955 Jacobs ran for Cumberland County judge against the incumbent, Republican Mark E. Garber, and again outside events affected his campaign.
Judge Garber was on the stand in the courthouse on the Square in Carlisle when a defendant in a support case pulled out a gun and started shooting, killing one of his estranged wife's lawyers and injuring the other lawyer and the judge.
Jacobs announced he would not campaign until his opponent had recovered, and figured his cause was lost. However, this gesture endeared him to voters and prompted several praising newspaper editorials — and Jacobs won.
"It turned out to be a very good move," Boyle said.
Jacobs was elected to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania in 1964 and became president judge in 1978.
In 1979 he became chairman of the board of Frog, Switch, on whose board he had already served for two decades. He retired in 1995, having overseen an era at the company that included new technology, new products and a financial base far sounder than it had been during the 1970s and 1960s, family members say.
Raphael Hays, the president of Frog, Switch, said he remembers Jacobs' tremendous sense of humor.
"He was very much liked at the plant," Hays said. "People had great respect for him."
Hays says he was on the company's board with Jacobs for six or seven years.
"He helped an awful lot," Hays said of Jacobs.
He was also an avid sportsman, playing golf regularly until just a few years ago. He was a member of Carlisle Country Club and the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, N.C.
During his Dickinson years he played on the college tennis team. Hays said Jacobs won all of his tennis matches in his senior year.
He was a fly fisherman fond of the streams around Carlisle and was an enthusiastic bird hunter.
He also became an avid horseman and fox hunter. He was a member of the Beaufort Hunt in Harrisburg and the Moore County Hounds in Southern Pines.
Compton, who lives in Southern Pines, N.C., said her father's love for horses rubbed off on her. She starting riding horses with him at a young age, when her father was 35 years old. Compton is now a real estate broker for country estates and horse farms and is a "professional horse person."
Boyle, who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., as well as Carlisle, teaches at a jewelry school in Manhattan and makes jewelry for a living.
"He instilled a great sense of drive and ambition in both of us," Boyle said of her father. "He had a strong work ethic."
She said she remembers him standing up in the state Senate once and saying "I don't think we should be paid because we haven't done any work for three weeks."
His comment ended up all over the papers, Boyle said.
Aside from his two daughters, Jacobs is survived by four grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and his companion, Betty Page Hafer.
***********************************
Patriot-News, The (Harrisburg, PA) - Sunday, August 13, 2006
Honorable Robert Lee Jacobs, 95, of Camp Hill, and a former longtime resident of Carlisle, passed away Friday, August 11, 2006 at Holy Spirit Hospital, Camp Hill.
He was born December 17, 1910, in Carlisle, a son of the late T. Ralph Jacobs and Alma (Lee) Jacobs.
Judge Jacobs was married to the late Ann (Hays) Jacobs, who died in 1994. He was a 1928 graduate of Carlisle High School, a 1932 graduate of Dickinson College and a 1935 graduate of Dickinson School of Law, Carlisle. He also held honorary degrees from both Dickinson College and Dickinson School of Law.
At age 25, he was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate, which at the time was the youngest person ever elected to serve in the Senate. He was a Veteran of World War II having served as a Lieutenant in the U. S. Navy. He was a judge for the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas from 1956 to 1964 and then served on the Pennsylvania Superior Court from 1964 until he retired as president judge in 1979.
After his retirement, he became the Chairman of the Board (1979-1994) and Chief Executive Officer (1979-1989) of Frog Switch & Manufacturing Company in Carlisle.
Judge Jacobs was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church, Carlisle, the American Bar Association and many civic organizations in the Carlisle area.
He was preceded in death by a sister, Mary Lee Jacobs Sayers.
He is survived by his two daughters, Elizabeth Jamieson Boyle of Brooklyn, NY and Carlisle and Ann Compton of Southern Pines, NC; 4 grandchildren, 5 great grandchildren; and his companion Betty Page Hafer.
Memorial services will be held Wednesday, August 16, 2006 at 12 Noon in St. John's Episcopal Church, On the Square in Carlisle with Rev. Dr. Mark A. Scheneman officiating. Burial will be private in Ashland Cemetery, Carlisle.
Robert Lee Jacobs - Judge Jacobs dies at 95
Sentinel, The (Carlisle, PA) - August 12, 2006
Robert Lee Jacobs, who was the youngest state senator in Pennsylvania history when elected in Cumberland County in 1936, died Friday in Holy Spirit Hospital near Camp Hill.
Jacobs, 95, served nine years on Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas and then went on to spend 15 years on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, retiring as president judge.
"Our father was very popular," said Bessie Jamieson Boyle as she and her sister, Ann Compton, reflected on his life Friday afternoon.
"He was a down-to-earth person —- not snooty," Boyle said.
And "he was comfortable" with everyone from farmers to "big-time lawyers," Compton added.
After leaving the court, the judge became chairman of the board of The Frog, Switch & Manufacturing Co. in Carlisle. He had been on the board since 1952.
A native of Carlisle who lived there most of his life, Jacobs moved to Camp Hill in the mid 1990s following the death of his wife, Ann Blaine Hays, in 1994.
Jacobs graduated from Dickinson College and then Dickinson School of Law, both in Carlisle, and began practicing law with his father, a former Cumberland County district attorney, in 1935.
Both were registered Democrats in a largely Republican county. But members of both parties liked the young lawyer, according to Boyle and Compton.
"He was very personable with people," not to mention "good looking and handsome," Boyle said.
"He was an old-time small-town lawyer," Compton added.
In a talk Jacobs gave to Cumberland County Historical Society in 1991, the judge described being approached by the Democratic county chairman and asked to run for the 31st District state Senate seat even though he was only 25.
Jacobs recalled campaigning door-to-door — and especially the day he approached a five-man work crew in a ditch near Shiremanstown.
"They were being watched by an older man who had a hook for one hand," he said. "I handed out my card to everyone there and asked for their consideration at the election. Without a word, the man with the hook hand took my card, held it on a post with his hook and tore it in two. Immediately every man in the ditch tore up my card.
"That was the low point of my political career."
The high point came soon after, however, when Franklin Roosevelt stopped in Harrisburg during his re-election campaign and Jacobs sat with him on the stage.
"One hundred and fifty thousand people were gathered below to hear the president," he recalled. "He came on the stand by a special ramp with the use of his two canes. He wore a naval cape and his head was bare. As he delivered his address in his melodious voice, the wind blew his hair and his cape."
He added: "You can imagine the effect this event had on a young political neophyte and the enthusiasm it gave me to resume by door-to-door campaigning the next day."
Jacobs won the election. Being on the same ticket as Roosevelt, who was reelected in a landslide, no doubt helped.
"He came in on the coat-tails of FDR," Boyle said.
Jacobs served in the state Senate for four years.
When World War II broke out, he tried to join the Army but was told he didn't weigh enough. He had his tonsils removed in an effort to gain weight and eventually was able to join the Navy. He spent the war years working in Washington, D.C., and was discharged as a lieutenant.
After the war Jacobs returned to Carlisle and resumed practicing law, joining forces with young William Martson.
In 1955 Jacobs ran for Cumberland County judge against the incumbent, Republican Mark E. Garber, and again outside events affected his campaign.
Judge Garber was on the stand in the courthouse on the Square in Carlisle when a defendant in a support case pulled out a gun and started shooting, killing one of his estranged wife's lawyers and injuring the other lawyer and the judge.
Jacobs announced he would not campaign until his opponent had recovered, and figured his cause was lost. However, this gesture endeared him to voters and prompted several praising newspaper editorials — and Jacobs won.
"It turned out to be a very good move," Boyle said.
Jacobs was elected to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania in 1964 and became president judge in 1978.
In 1979 he became chairman of the board of Frog, Switch, on whose board he had already served for two decades. He retired in 1995, having overseen an era at the company that included new technology, new products and a financial base far sounder than it had been during the 1970s and 1960s, family members say.
Raphael Hays, the president of Frog, Switch, said he remembers Jacobs' tremendous sense of humor.
"He was very much liked at the plant," Hays said. "People had great respect for him."
Hays says he was on the company's board with Jacobs for six or seven years.
"He helped an awful lot," Hays said of Jacobs.
He was also an avid sportsman, playing golf regularly until just a few years ago. He was a member of Carlisle Country Club and the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, N.C.
During his Dickinson years he played on the college tennis team. Hays said Jacobs won all of his tennis matches in his senior year.
He was a fly fisherman fond of the streams around Carlisle and was an enthusiastic bird hunter.
He also became an avid horseman and fox hunter. He was a member of the Beaufort Hunt in Harrisburg and the Moore County Hounds in Southern Pines.
Compton, who lives in Southern Pines, N.C., said her father's love for horses rubbed off on her. She starting riding horses with him at a young age, when her father was 35 years old. Compton is now a real estate broker for country estates and horse farms and is a "professional horse person."
Boyle, who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., as well as Carlisle, teaches at a jewelry school in Manhattan and makes jewelry for a living.
"He instilled a great sense of drive and ambition in both of us," Boyle said of her father. "He had a strong work ethic."
She said she remembers him standing up in the state Senate once and saying "I don't think we should be paid because we haven't done any work for three weeks."
His comment ended up all over the papers, Boyle said.
Aside from his two daughters, Jacobs is survived by four grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and his companion, Betty Page Hafer.
***********************************
Patriot-News, The (Harrisburg, PA) - Sunday, August 13, 2006
Honorable Robert Lee Jacobs, 95, of Camp Hill, and a former longtime resident of Carlisle, passed away Friday, August 11, 2006 at Holy Spirit Hospital, Camp Hill.
He was born December 17, 1910, in Carlisle, a son of the late T. Ralph Jacobs and Alma (Lee) Jacobs.
Judge Jacobs was married to the late Ann (Hays) Jacobs, who died in 1994. He was a 1928 graduate of Carlisle High School, a 1932 graduate of Dickinson College and a 1935 graduate of Dickinson School of Law, Carlisle. He also held honorary degrees from both Dickinson College and Dickinson School of Law.
At age 25, he was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate, which at the time was the youngest person ever elected to serve in the Senate. He was a Veteran of World War II having served as a Lieutenant in the U. S. Navy. He was a judge for the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas from 1956 to 1964 and then served on the Pennsylvania Superior Court from 1964 until he retired as president judge in 1979.
After his retirement, he became the Chairman of the Board (1979-1994) and Chief Executive Officer (1979-1989) of Frog Switch & Manufacturing Company in Carlisle.
Judge Jacobs was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church, Carlisle, the American Bar Association and many civic organizations in the Carlisle area.
He was preceded in death by a sister, Mary Lee Jacobs Sayers.
He is survived by his two daughters, Elizabeth Jamieson Boyle of Brooklyn, NY and Carlisle and Ann Compton of Southern Pines, NC; 4 grandchildren, 5 great grandchildren; and his companion Betty Page Hafer.
Memorial services will be held Wednesday, August 16, 2006 at 12 Noon in St. John's Episcopal Church, On the Square in Carlisle with Rev. Dr. Mark A. Scheneman officiating. Burial will be private in Ashland Cemetery, Carlisle.
Sentinel, The (Carlisle, PA) - August 12, 2006
Robert Lee Jacobs, who was the youngest state senator in Pennsylvania history when elected in Cumberland County in 1936, died Friday in Holy Spirit Hospital near Camp Hill.
Jacobs, 95, served nine years on Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas and then went on to spend 15 years on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, retiring as president judge.
"Our father was very popular," said Bessie Jamieson Boyle as she and her sister, Ann Compton, reflected on his life Friday afternoon.
"He was a down-to-earth person —- not snooty," Boyle said.
And "he was comfortable" with everyone from farmers to "big-time lawyers," Compton added.
After leaving the court, the judge became chairman of the board of The Frog, Switch & Manufacturing Co. in Carlisle. He had been on the board since 1952.
A native of Carlisle who lived there most of his life, Jacobs moved to Camp Hill in the mid 1990s following the death of his wife, Ann Blaine Hays, in 1994.
Jacobs graduated from Dickinson College and then Dickinson School of Law, both in Carlisle, and began practicing law with his father, a former Cumberland County district attorney, in 1935.
Both were registered Democrats in a largely Republican county. But members of both parties liked the young lawyer, according to Boyle and Compton.
"He was very personable with people," not to mention "good looking and handsome," Boyle said.
"He was an old-time small-town lawyer," Compton added.
In a talk Jacobs gave to Cumberland County Historical Society in 1991, the judge described being approached by the Democratic county chairman and asked to run for the 31st District state Senate seat even though he was only 25.
Jacobs recalled campaigning door-to-door — and especially the day he approached a five-man work crew in a ditch near Shiremanstown.
"They were being watched by an older man who had a hook for one hand," he said. "I handed out my card to everyone there and asked for their consideration at the election. Without a word, the man with the hook hand took my card, held it on a post with his hook and tore it in two. Immediately every man in the ditch tore up my card.
"That was the low point of my political career."
The high point came soon after, however, when Franklin Roosevelt stopped in Harrisburg during his re-election campaign and Jacobs sat with him on the stage.
"One hundred and fifty thousand people were gathered below to hear the president," he recalled. "He came on the stand by a special ramp with the use of his two canes. He wore a naval cape and his head was bare. As he delivered his address in his melodious voice, the wind blew his hair and his cape."
He added: "You can imagine the effect this event had on a young political neophyte and the enthusiasm it gave me to resume by door-to-door campaigning the next day."
Jacobs won the election. Being on the same ticket as Roosevelt, who was reelected in a landslide, no doubt helped.
"He came in on the coat-tails of FDR," Boyle said.
Jacobs served in the state Senate for four years.
When World War II broke out, he tried to join the Army but was told he didn't weigh enough. He had his tonsils removed in an effort to gain weight and eventually was able to join the Navy. He spent the war years working in Washington, D.C., and was discharged as a lieutenant.
After the war Jacobs returned to Carlisle and resumed practicing law, joining forces with young William Martson.
In 1955 Jacobs ran for Cumberland County judge against the incumbent, Republican Mark E. Garber, and again outside events affected his campaign.
Judge Garber was on the stand in the courthouse on the Square in Carlisle when a defendant in a support case pulled out a gun and started shooting, killing one of his estranged wife's lawyers and injuring the other lawyer and the judge.
Jacobs announced he would not campaign until his opponent had recovered, and figured his cause was lost. However, this gesture endeared him to voters and prompted several praising newspaper editorials — and Jacobs won.
"It turned out to be a very good move," Boyle said.
Jacobs was elected to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania in 1964 and became president judge in 1978.
In 1979 he became chairman of the board of Frog, Switch, on whose board he had already served for two decades. He retired in 1995, having overseen an era at the company that included new technology, new products and a financial base far sounder than it had been during the 1970s and 1960s, family members say.
Raphael Hays, the president of Frog, Switch, said he remembers Jacobs' tremendous sense of humor.
"He was very much liked at the plant," Hays said. "People had great respect for him."
Hays says he was on the company's board with Jacobs for six or seven years.
"He helped an awful lot," Hays said of Jacobs.
He was also an avid sportsman, playing golf regularly until just a few years ago. He was a member of Carlisle Country Club and the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, N.C.
During his Dickinson years he played on the college tennis team. Hays said Jacobs won all of his tennis matches in his senior year.
He was a fly fisherman fond of the streams around Carlisle and was an enthusiastic bird hunter.
He also became an avid horseman and fox hunter. He was a member of the Beaufort Hunt in Harrisburg and the Moore County Hounds in Southern Pines.
Compton, who lives in Southern Pines, N.C., said her father's love for horses rubbed off on her. She starting riding horses with him at a young age, when her father was 35 years old. Compton is now a real estate broker for country estates and horse farms and is a "professional horse person."
Boyle, who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., as well as Carlisle, teaches at a jewelry school in Manhattan and makes jewelry for a living.
"He instilled a great sense of drive and ambition in both of us," Boyle said of her father. "He had a strong work ethic."
She said she remembers him standing up in the state Senate once and saying "I don't think we should be paid because we haven't done any work for three weeks."
His comment ended up all over the papers, Boyle said.
Aside from his two daughters, Jacobs is survived by four grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and his companion, Betty Page Hafer.
***********************************
Patriot-News, The (Harrisburg, PA) - Sunday, August 13, 2006
Honorable Robert Lee Jacobs, 95, of Camp Hill, and a former longtime resident of Carlisle, passed away Friday, August 11, 2006 at Holy Spirit Hospital, Camp Hill.
He was born December 17, 1910, in Carlisle, a son of the late T. Ralph Jacobs and Alma (Lee) Jacobs.
Judge Jacobs was married to the late Ann (Hays) Jacobs, who died in 1994. He was a 1928 graduate of Carlisle High School, a 1932 graduate of Dickinson College and a 1935 graduate of Dickinson School of Law, Carlisle. He also held honorary degrees from both Dickinson College and Dickinson School of Law.
At age 25, he was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate, which at the time was the youngest person ever elected to serve in the Senate. He was a Veteran of World War II having served as a Lieutenant in the U. S. Navy. He was a judge for the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas from 1956 to 1964 and then served on the Pennsylvania Superior Court from 1964 until he retired as president judge in 1979.
After his retirement, he became the Chairman of the Board (1979-1994) and Chief Executive Officer (1979-1989) of Frog Switch & Manufacturing Company in Carlisle.
Judge Jacobs was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church, Carlisle, the American Bar Association and many civic organizations in the Carlisle area.
He was preceded in death by a sister, Mary Lee Jacobs Sayers.
He is survived by his two daughters, Elizabeth Jamieson Boyle of Brooklyn, NY and Carlisle and Ann Compton of Southern Pines, NC; 4 grandchildren, 5 great grandchildren; and his companion Betty Page Hafer.
Memorial services will be held Wednesday, August 16, 2006 at 12 Noon in St. John's Episcopal Church, On the Square in Carlisle with Rev. Dr. Mark A. Scheneman officiating. Burial will be private in Ashland Cemetery, Carlisle.
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