By Albert Amateau
Alan Jacobs, a longtime resident of Penn South in Chelsea and founder of the co-op’s woodworking shop and club, died Oct. 2 at home at the age of 77.
At his memorial Oct. 21 in the Community Room at 330-40 W. 28th St., friends, family and woodworking club members gathered to pay tribute to his sharp sense of humor, his booming voice and the work he did for residents and his leadership in the club.
Retired for many years, he had been a development executive who helped raise funds for bringing the Juilliard School to Lincoln Center. Afflicted with depression for many years, he ended his own life.
Alan Jacobs was born and raised in the Bronx and attended DeWitt Clinton High School where he was a handball champ and played football. Margaret, his former wife, who presided at the Oct. 21 memorial, told the story that when Alan was in elementary school in the Bronx, all students had off for the Jewish holidays, but certain Catholic holidays were optional. When he told the teacher that he would not be in school for one of them, she remarked that he was Jewish.
“The Catholic kids are nice enough to pay respect to my holidays,” he replied. “The least I can do is respect theirs.”
Residents at the memorial talked about the woodworking articles he made for them and joked about missed measurements and the time it took for him sometimes to finish a promised woodworking job.
A son, Jeff Jacobs, of Penn South, a daughter, Ann Jacobs, and a granddaughter, all of Manhattan, survive. He is also survived by a brother, Louis, of Queens.
