I provided Dr. Jakobsen's dental hygiene preventive care for several years. I enjoyed seeing him at each visit and hearing about his family. He was a very gracious man who served the University of Iowa with distinction in many capacities and importantly, provided substantial support for diversity in graduate student education.

I extend my sincere condolences to his wife Jane and to their children and grandchildren.

Jane, Tom and Janet, thinking back fondly of the times our families shared. My heart goes out to you all.

Jane and family,

I had some interaction with Jake in my various positions at the U of I. And sadly, did not have the honor of working with him directly. However, I have heard often of how truly compassionate he was with students. And as we all know that sometimes is not an easy job. . for Jake it was his way. Add to that the way he treated his staff . . .mentoring them, caring for them, and being Jake from what I came to understand. And a true friend and compassionate support system. Dean Jakobsen, aka," Jake" will truly be missed, especially by you, Jane, and your family. My heartfelt sympathy and care to you and your family. And to all who will miss him on a daily basis. Bless you all in this very difficult time.

Jake was a true friend to our family. He became a part of my life when I was 13 years old and his son Tom married my sister Janice. His modesty, humor, and thoughtfulness made a great impression on me. Holidays, when Jane and Jake often joined us, were noisy at our family table. Everyone talking and telling stories. I remember one year when a talking Barbie doll had stirred up controversy because she said (among other things), "Math is hard." We were having a spirited discussion about why girl dolls shouldn't say discouraging things about studying math. Jake said, "But math IS hard." We all laughed.

What a sad thing - for the world to lose such a fine example of what it means to be human, in all the best ways. Jane, I am at a complete loss of words to adequately express the loss I personally feel - not as great as you and your children, but certainly among the greatest losses of my life. What can one say about someone like Jake? He was in all respects the best colleague I have ever had the opportunity to work. And the word "colleague" is the best I can do to define the remarkable working relationship we had during the ten years I was Dean of the Graduate College at the University of Iowa. I never considered myself as Jake's "boss" and I think that he also felt more as though we shared the responsibility for much of Graduate Education at Iowa. Many of the projects that we implemented were primarily or entirely his ideas; few if any actions were taken without his wise counsel and blessing.

I had the privilege of succeeding Jake as Associate Dean of the Graduate College after he retired. Jake was always a source of knowledge, wisdom and support as I tried to emulate him and his style of interacting with and supporting students. I too, learned many lessons from Jake and consider him one of my mentors as I have grown into my current position over the years. He was a "once in a lifetime" type person to get to know.

I worked at the Graduate College in 1981. My son, Randy was a Freshman at the University that year and was having trouble with his math class. Dean Jakobsen spent two afternoons working with Randy and told us that he had not received the "basics", which was not uncommon. I have never forgotten his kindness to a frightened freshman student - which was the way he treated everyone. The world has lost a great man!

Patricia Jenkins

Jane, The healing power and comfort of the Holy Spirit bless you, your family and friends. With love, Karen.

Jake set the tone for the University of Iowa Graduate College values and actions when I had the privilege and pleasure to work with him. It was wonderful to be a part of a team of deans where Jake's strong support for the students, his ability to work with the faculty, his appreciation and support of his colleagues, and perhaps most significantly his honesty and unbending integrity, were prime. Jake was a modest, unassuming man who personified, for me, an effecitve, good academic administrator. I join the many others who benefited greatly from knowing and working with Jake. My thoughts are with his family at this time.

Jake took me in and mentored me when I was appointed an assistant dean in the Graduate College at the University of Iowa. I learned lifetimes of lessons from him about how to care about graduate students and do everything possible for them. He was a wonderful man and I will continue to carry his memory with me.

Jake was my academic advisor my first year as an undergraduate math major at Iowa. As a first semester freshman he put me in the proof algebra class and proof analysis class. The next semester I took an analysiseybxJ class from him. He certainly set me off in the right direction.