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Jacobs’ love for hometown endures

Jacobs recently donated $30 million to the University at Buffalo’s medical school in honor of his brother.
Photo by: DELAWARE NORTH

Among the constants in Jeremy Jacobs’ life has been his hometown of Buffalo.

It’s where he was born, where he went to high school and college, where he met his wife, where he started his family, and it’s where he has kept the family business even as other cities have eagerly looked to poach Delaware North.

It’s where the company recently moved into a gleaming $110 million corporate headquarters downtown, at the corner of Chippewa Street and Delaware Avenue.

“We are in Buffalo because of the chairman and his love for the city,” said Rick Abramson, chief operating officer and executive vice president of Delaware North. “There have been many times we tried to move to Florida because you do not have to pay certain taxes. We stayed in downtown Buffalo, a mile or two from where his father worked. That shows his kindness and generosity to the city.”

For Jacobs, it’s all about the values that define Buffalo.

“Buffalo is about as far east as you can get and still have a Midwestern value,” he said. “There are great values here. Buffalo has been great to me. I was born here and grew up here. I have watched it go — up and down. It has been a great place to raise a family. The educational systems are really exceptional. It is a city with a great value system. You have great intellectual elements such as museums, art, music, and it is an unbelievable sports town.”

Jacobs has been active in the Buffalo community and recently donated $30 million to the University at Buffalo medical school, which will be named the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. That brought the Jacobs family’s total contribution to UB to more than $50 million over the years, and much of it driven to honor the legacy of Jeremy’s late brother, Lawrence.

“My brother, Lawrence, was chairman of the neurology department here in Buffalo,” Jacobs said. “We were very close. He founded the use of interferon for multiple sclerosis. He was a man of great reputation. He unfortunately died young, at 63.

“I have always been interested in medicine. Medicine is about consistent education. If you are not being continually educated, than you are no longer an informed doctor. I thought putting our name on that school would be very special. Remembering my brother was important. My brother was very, very impressive, and we were very close. All of the rest of my brothers and sisters moved, but he and I were close here in Buffalo. When he died, it was big in my life; a big loss.”

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