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Delaware North Chairman Jeremy M. Jacobs and family make historic $30 million gift to University at Buffalo medical school

Delaware North Chairman Jeremy M. Jacobs, his wife, Margaret, and their family on Sept. 14 made a $30 million gift to the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
 
Charlie Jacobs, CEO of Delaware North’s Boston Holdings, was among those who introduced Mr. Jacobs, with several family members on-hand, including co-CEOs Jerry Jacobs Jr. and Lou Jacobs. 
 
Media outlets certainly took notice. News of the historic gift was featured on the front page of The Buffalo News and by nearly every media outlet in Western New York. The news also made the Chronicle of Philanthropy and was a top headline on ESPN.com’s NHL page.
 
Members of the Boston Bruins’ communications team were also on-site and produced an excellent video feature, which can be seen by clicking here.    
 
The gift helps the school – slated to move to a new building under construction on the burgeoning Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus, which also houses the Jacobs Institute – as it undergoes an ambitious period of expansion that will enable it to pursue innovative medical education, research and patient care.
 
As one of the school’s most distinguished graduates, Mr. Jacobs has been a longtime supporter of the University at Buffalo (UB). He has served as chairman of the UB Council since 1998 and has provided invaluable service to the university over three decades, spanning the tenures of five UB presidents.
 
The gift to the medical school was inspired by the essential role that medical schools play in pioneering health-care breakthroughs and advancing patient care in their communities. 
 
In recognition of Mr. Jacobs’ tremendous service and philanthropy to the university, the UB medical school will be named the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, UB President Satish K. Tripathi announced.
 
“This is a great and historic milestone for UB, as the first school-naming in our university’s long and distinguished history. It is truly fitting that the medical school – UB’s founding school – would have this great distinction,” Tripathi said. “And it is equally fitting that it should bear the name of an individual and a family who truly embody the vision that has guided our university for the better part of two centuries. No one could ask for a greater champion or a greater friend to UB than Jeremy Jacobs and the Jacobs family have been over the years. We are honored to have this opportunity to recognize that great generosity in this meaningful and lasting way.”
 
Mr. Jacobs said his family was inspired to make the gift in recognition of the UB medical school’s key role in advancing new treatments for patients and in realizing the full potential of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. He credits his late brother, Lawrence Jacobs, MD, for teaching him about the important, centralized role of schools of medicine in medical communities.
 
“My family is honored to make this investment in the community,” Mr. Jacobs said. “I learned from my brother Larry that a career in medicine is one of lifelong learning and teaching, which is why I’m enthusiastic about moving the medical school to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. It will be the nexus for researchers, physicians and students, and we look forward to Western New York becoming a world-class destination for health care.”
 
Mr. Jacobs currently serves as co-chair of the UB medical school’s fundraising committee, along with Nancy Nielsen, MD, PhD, UB senior associate dean for health, and Robert Wilmers, chairman and chief executive officer of M&T Bank. From 1980-87, Mr. Jacobs served as chair of the UB Foundation and has served as an advisor to the UB School of Management. The Jacobs family has funded scholarships for exceptional undergraduates in the UB Honors College, provided financial aid to female student-athletes, funded academic chairs and created flexible funds for innovation and special needs.
 
In the mid-1980s, the Jacobs family supported a UB School of Management MBA program in China, the first academic partnership between an American university and that evolving nation. A School of Management building on UB’s North Campus bears the Jacobs name, in honor of the family’s longstanding generosity. The family also donated to UB an architectural landmark, the Butler Mansion, renamed the Jacobs Executive Development Center at Delaware Avenue and North Street.