‘KINDER, BRAVER, TOGETHER’: BOB JACOB INSPIRED BY LADY GAGA TO GIVE $1M IN STOCKS TO SOUTH MUSKOKA HOSPITAL FOUNDATION
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
BRACEBRIDGE — Bob Jacob is goo-goo over Gaga.
He’s seen her three times, but can’t name many of her songs beyond “Come to Mama.”
But he’s as inspired by the siren songstress’s philanthropy as he by her pipes.
That’s partly how he came to donate $1 million worth of shares to the South Muskoka Memorial Hospital Foundation, which has them singing his praises.
And he’d like to inspire others likewise to donate.
“We’re thrilled to share that Bob Jacob has made a transformational $1 million donation to the South Muskoka Hospital Foundation,” Leah Walker, SMMHF’s executive director says.
“This extraordinary gift is not only an investment in equipment, but also an investment in hope and health for our region. Thank you, Bob, for your vision and compassion.”
Jacob takes every opportunity to talk about Lady Gaga, especially while making his many just lesser — but still generous and significant —donations to several other Muskoka charitable causes.
And while Jacob is a tireless Bracebridge Rotary Club local fundraiser and donor, it’s his passion for Gaga and her Born This Way Foundation that continues to inspire the 83-year-old Bracebridge resident and Gravenhurst cottager.
Bob and Lynn Jacobs moved from Toronto to Gravenhurst in 1978 and built a home in Bracebridge in 2000 where they embraced the community. While Bob embraced Rotary, Lynn was on the library board, Muskoka Concert Association and to the Canadian Federation of University Women.
“I was happy to do it,” he said modestly last week at the noon hour Gravenhurst Rotary Club meeting he regularly attends Thursdays at the Opera House, along with his own Bracebridge Rotary Club meeting Friday at the same hour at the Rotary Centre.
He said he’s donated “smaller amounts” to the SMMHF previously.
This time it was a transfer of stock assets and “they got it all at once.”
“I was lucky.”
The funds will go toward equipment as the province doesn’t pay that. They rely on donations.
And it won’t go to any specific item.
“They have a form and I ticked off ‘greatest need.’”
As for his inspiration, “I think she’s a transformational individual,” says her Muskoka apostle. “Beyond her music she has mental health initiatives around the world and is an advocated for equality.”
Jacob has seen Gaga three times, including Toronto and last year in Las Vegas when he took his two daughters and a son-in-law for her ‘Piano and Jazz’ series.
“She is a consummate performer. Her talent is just beyond what you can imagine.
“Most of her songs are based on life experiences. She was raped and traumatized at age 19 and has PSTD as a result.
“When she looks out at her fans — many of them marginalized — she sees herself and their struggles.
“She has a very high IQ.
“‘Braver Together’ is the mantra of her ‘Born This Way Foundation’ and “what she suggests you should do in your own community.”
Jacob says his wife grew up in Niagara Falls and knew “what to do in small communities.”
They met in first year at the University of Toronto 60 years ago. She passed away in 2019.
Asked what he studied, Jacob was quick to reply: “Not very much.”
Which, he added, may have been the impetus for the rest of his life.
“I believe a donation is an investment in the community. We all benefit from investing in the community. I think that’s what Rotary does
“I’m not the most able to donate. There are a lot of others who haven’t turned on the switch yet. You’ve seen some the wealth around the Lakes.”
Is that a challenge?
So how was he able to donate?
“All I did was save some money every year and invest it. Just didn’t spend and put it away for the future.
“I couldn’t have done this six months ago. I had some good timing on investments that enabled my donation.”
As for the state of the stock markets?
“I have no idea how they are doing now. With this Mr. Trump, I don’t think that anybody knows.”
Jacob says “We’re (Muskoka) a very popular place and I think in the future there will be a lot more pressure on us.
“I’d like to see more support for the community.
“For projects like GAP (Gravenhurst Against Poverty), which he supports. Gravenhurst should be very proud. The people who are supporting it are the permanent residents. Those initiatives are wonderful.
“It’s getting the transitional cottagers to show up and drive food to people who are starving.”
Jacob still carries around a cheque book he pulls out when a cause strikes him.
Asked if he’d like Gaga to know she inspired him to make this latest large hospital donation, he laughed and deferred saying: “Being kind and doing acts of kindness are very important” — not only to her but him.
His small way of doing that includes purchasing a “bunch of her ‘Braver Together’ black hats of which “100 per cent of the funds go to her mental health awareness program.”
He bought them at Gaga’s Vegas store and museum “and gave them out.”
Jacob’s been in Muskoka for at least 47 years when he and former schoolmate Alec Mills (who died last year) developed properties on Miller Island in Lake Muskoka.
Jacob spends time both at his cottage there and home in Bracebridge.
An avid golfer, he’s regularly on the links three times a week at either Diamond in the Rough in Utterson or Muskoka Bay in Gravenhurst where he was a founding member in 2006 and that he considers “our course the closest and best.”
Indeed, Muskoka Bay was ranked 10th in the country this past weekend in a Toronto Star national poll.
While claiming to be “not very good,” he says “I play and enjoy every opportunity to hit the ball.”
He also plays shinny in the winter with old friends after giving up tennis “60 years ago” that he played competitively.
He said not graduating from UofT “maybe gave me some motivation” to work, invest, succeed and be able to generously donate.
After turning his back on education he spent 33 years in the emerging computer world, working in Toronto “where all the main frames were” and “where I grew up.”
He worked for Honeywell and “selling disaster recovery services. And for a consulting firm out of Boston for two years.”
Jacob’s been retired for 27 years.
“My objective is to be retired longer than I worked.”
Muskoka’s the better if he lasts at least six more years.
His philanthropy meets Rotary’s 4-way test.
EMAIL: news@muskokatoday.com
31 years of TRUSTED ‘Local Online Journalism’
SINCE MAY 20, 1994
Twitter: @muskokatoday, Facebook: mclairmont1
SUBSCRIBE for $30 by e-transferring to news@muskokatoday.com
Mail cheque to MuskokaTODAY.com Box 34 Gravenhurst, Ont. P1P 1T5
And include your email address to get stories sent to your inbox
