Jeremy “Jerry” M. Jacobs is chairman of Delaware North, chairman and governor of the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL) and chairman of the NHL’s Board of Governors.
Since 1968, Jacobs has led Delaware North through decades of growth and expansion. Delaware North is a family-owned global leader in hospitality, with operations in food and retail at sports venues, sports facility ownership and management, hospitality services at parks and major tourist attractions, hotel ownership and management, gaming operations and fine dining and catering. His sons, Jerry Jacobs Jr., Lou Jacobs and Charlie Jacobs, serve as CEOs of the more than 110-year-old company which maintains a corporate headquarters in Buffalo, N.Y.
In 1975, Jacobs acquired the Boston Bruins and the team’s home venue, the Boston Garden. Twenty years later, he built a new multipurpose arena in Boston, Mass., that is currently home of the Bruins and the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Over the past 25 years, TD Garden has undergone many transformations and is now considered one of the most innovative and celebrated venues in North America
Jacobs has held numerous leadership roles in the NHL, including serving on the league’s Audit, Finance and Executive Committees since 1979. In 2007, his peers unanimously elected him to be chairman of the NHL Board of Governors, a role that he holds today.
For his contributions to hockey and the wider world of sports, Jacobs was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 2006, awarded the Hockey Legacy Award from the Sports Museum in Boston in 2012, inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2013, awarded the prestigious Lester Patrick Trophy from USA Hockey in 2015, named to the Sports Business Journal Champions: Pioneers in Sports Innovation & Business class of 2016, and was inducted into the 2016 class of the Massachusetts Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2017, Jacobs was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, the sport’s highest honor.
Jacobs is an alumnus and his family are longtime supporters of the University at Buffalo (UB), a flagship institution in the State University of New York system. He served as chairman of the UB Council from 1998 to 2025 and was awarded the university’s prestigious Chancellor Charles P. Norton Medal in 2025. UB named and dedicated the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in 2015, in recognition of the Jacobs family’s many decades of philanthropy, which included $30 million to construct a new, state-of-the-art medical school building in downtown Buffalo.
The Jacobs family also founded the Jacobs Institute, a medical innovation center focused on accelerating device development in vascular medicine, which stands in tribute to Jacob’s late brother, Dr. Lawrence “Larry” Jacobs. The Jacobs family has additionally funded scholarships for undergraduate students and student-athletes, supported academic chairs and the UB School of Management, and donated to the university the architectural landmark that was a past headquarters building of Delaware North.
Jacobs has provided distinguished service and leadership to the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County, and the Jacobs family and Delaware North are significant benefactors to multiple non-profit organizations in Western New York and throughout the United States and world.
Jacobs is a graduate of UB’s School of Management, and he completed the Harvard School of Business Advanced Management Program. He holds honorary doctorates from UB, Canisius University, Niagara University and Johnson & Wales University.
He and his wife, Margaret “Peggy” Jacobs reside in East Aurora, New York. They have six children, 18 grandchildren and a growing family of great-grandchildren.