April 10, 2026

SOUTH MUSKOKA MEMORIAL HOSPITAL ENTRANCE ATRIUM NAMED FOR BOB AND LYNN JACOB, AFTER HIS SECOND $1-MILLION DONATION SINCE LAST AUGUST

BRACEBRIDGE — Bob Jacob (“not Jacobs”) is two-for-two.

His second million-dollar donation to the South Muskoka Memorial Hospital Foundation was celebrated this afternoon with the names of he and his late wife, Lynn, being placed in prominence over the front entrance to the hospital.

“Look, they spelled my name right — BOB,” he joked after the large silver letters were unveiled by workers on the rooftop.

“Not bad for what started as $2 stock investments both times,” he added, as a crowd gathered to take pictures of him dwarfed by the proceeds of not only a “donation,” he reiterated, but was again his “investment” in south Muskoka community health care.

It’s his second million-dollar stock transfer in eight months — since last August.

**Bob Jacob said his wife, Lynn, would be proud. “She thought we wouldn’t have enough money for retirement,” he laughed. PHOTOS Mark Clairmont MuskokaTODAY.com**

A hospital donor since 1980, “with Bob giving through his lifetime, and with these two gifts, he is our current largest living donor. So we’re very excited” said Foundation executive director Leah Walker who was stunned twice by Jabob’s phone calls telling her to check her email where she found million-dollar transfers.

“It’s simple to give,” said Jacob. “All I did was phone my broker, Leo, and when he sent me the completed forms I touched the screen with my signature and they had the money. It was done.”

Hospital president and CEO Cheryl Harrison was equally effusive with her thanks and his recognition of the staff and their efforts for patients. The money goes to hospital equipment needs — and not the future hospitals build.

Jacob, too, understands that having been in hospital a few times the past decade with ticker trouble. And, he said, when his wife ended her days there he really appreciated her final palliative care.

“Bob is deeply generous, thoughtful and kind. And cares so much about his community and its health and well being.”

His donations, including the stocks each worth more than $1 million, bring his total contributions to $2.2 million.

The front entrance atrium will is now named in the Jacobs’ honour and goes along with his friends Barry and Brenda Gray, whose donation helped rebuild the diagnostic imaging department. And the ER department named in recognition of a donation by Muskoka Lakes cottager Peter Gilgan, of Matamy Homes.

**CEO Cheryl Harrison thanked Bob Jacob for showing support for the staff and their patient efforts, which both he and his wife, Lynn, experienced and appreciated over the years.**

Jacob started his working life on Bay Street and got into the stock market early, before also being employed in the computer field before moving to a Muskoka cottage and investing on the Muskoka Lakes.

He’s now a well-known and generous community groups donor, especially selling tickets through for fundraisers with his Bracebridge Rotary Club.

Last week he won dinner and tickets to the Gravenhurst Rotary Club’s Dolly and Ivy Health Hub fundraiser.

On May 2, in Port Carling, Muskoka’s No. 1 Lady Gaga fan is the lead sponsor for the Bracebridge Muskoka Lakes Rotary Club’s Masquerade Madness in aid of SMMH Foundation, the RVH hospital foundation and Hospice Muskoka’s Andy’s House.