The Ageless Marcia and Arthur Jacobs

– By Arthur Stampleman –

This is a big year for Arthur and Marcia Jacobs, residents of The Osborn. The Jacobs are celebrating Arthur’s 95th birthday, Marcia’s 90th and their 70th anniversary. And on June 6 they were two of the honorees at the June & Jazz fund-raising event for Human Development Services of Westchester (HDSW) at Coveleigh Club.

At 95, you might think that Arthur would just be sitting back and relaxing, but not so. He just recently completed his term as president of the resident’s association at The Osborn, and he is still active as a labor arbitrator. Asked how and why he keeps going like the Energizer Bunny, he replied, “I feel good, I enjoy what I do and I meet interesting people. As long as both management and labor keep on asking me to take on arbitrations, I’ll keep on doing it.”

Arthur is a member of the board of both HDSW and the Friends of HDSW, and Marcia continues to serve on the HDSW Advisory Council. Mamaroneck-based HDS, founded in 1979, and its predecessor organization Futura, founded in 1968, have served over 3,000 men and women in Westchester who have successfully recovered from periods of homelessness, mental illness and substance abuse.

One board member used the words “steadfast participant” and “thoughtful adviser” to describe Marcia and Arthur’s roles. Executive Director Andrea Kocsis, who has been with HDSW and Futura for almost four decades, added: “Over many, many years Arthur and Marcia have been so supportive of all that the agency has done for people with mental illness and those with housing problems.”

Marcia is a native of New York City. Arthur was born in Chicago and raised in Hammond, Ind. They met at the University of Wisconsin two years after Arthur graduated and when Marcia was a junior. They have two sons, John, a New York-based doctor, and Jeffrey, who books movies for independent theaters and produces documentary films;  and six grandchildren. Jeffrey resides in Rye with his wife, Heidi, who is an international education consultant.

Both Marcia and Arthur Jacobs have had separate, successful careers. After earning degrees in psychology and social work at the University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan and NYU, Marcia was a social worker and social work supervisor in Washington, D.C., New York City and Westchester. She was invited to join Futura’s Board shortly after it was formed and joined the HDSW Advisory Council when the two organizations merged.

Marcia retired from her social work career in 1983 after 13 years at the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Riverdale, where her final position was Director of Social Services. Commenting on her long social work career, Marcia said, “I was successful because I had so many great people to work with.”

Arthur received two degrees in journalism from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan.  With a background that included Chief Statistician of the Wisconsin Welfare Department in the late 1930s, and Washington labor and wartime production positions in the early 1940s, he came to the New York City area in the late 1940s. Here, he held senior administrative and budget positions with a number of philanthropic and non-profit organizations, including the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, the Union for Reform Judaism, and, finally, Ramapo College of New Jersey where he “retired” in 1985.

In 1948, Arthur was invited to become a labor arbitrator by the chairman of the NYS Mediation Board. He continues to serve on labor arbitration panels and 10 years ago began arbitrating for the National Association of Security Dealers.

Arthur joined the Futura Board shortly after Marcia and was president for two years. He stayed on the board after the merger with HDSW and even today continues as an active participant on various board committees. But, there is one major contribution that stands out — his formation of the Friends organization.

Over the years, Futura and HDSW received individual and corporate donations that helped it to carry out its activities. By creating a separate Friends organization and channeling private grants there, Arthur enabled Futura and then HDSW to better take advantage of both donations and government support. It also helped HDSW purchase its present headquarters building.

For 40 years, Marcia and Arthur have been part of Futura and HDSW. Recently, they said how proud they are of the agency and the staff  — how the agency has helped so many people, how it effectively handles such a wide variety of situations and how hard the staff works.

Marcia and Arthur have enjoyed watching HDSW grow and haven’t minded growing older in the process.