David Penman Jacobus, MD
David Penman Jacobus, MD, of Princeton, NJ, passed away on May 23, 2024, at the age of 97, following a brief hospital stay. He is survived by three daughters and a son-in-law: Marget Jacobus, of Westfield, MA; Claire (Hughie) Jacobus and her husband Andrew Hildick-Smith, of Winchester, MA; and Laura Jacobus of Princeton, NJ. He is survived by four grandchildren and their respective partners: Gordon Hildick-Smith and his wife Alice Wisener of Boston, MA; Seth Hildick-Smith of Los Angeles, CA; Neil Hildick-Smith and his partner Alex Zivkovic of New York City; and Ellen Jacobus and her partner Justin Lim of Oakland, CA. He also leaves two great-grandchildren. David was predeceased by Claire, his beloved wife of 67 years, who died six months ago; by his much loved brother, John, who died in 2018; and by three sons: David, who died in infancy, William, who died in 2019, and John, who died in 2021.
The eldest of two sons, David was born in Boston, MA, to Margaret Elizabeth (née Penman) Jacobus, known as Gar, and David Dinkel Jacobus, a professor at Stevens Institute of Technology and later a mechanical engineer who designed nuclear accelerators.
David Jacobus had fond memories of growing up on the Stevens campus in Hoboken, NJ. He graduated from the Philips Exeter Academy in 1945 and from Harvard University in 1949; he earned an MD in 1953 at the University of Pennsylvania, staying on at Penn to complete his internship and residency in internal medicine. While in medical school, he went out on a blind date and met his future wife, Claire Robinson, whom he married in 1956. After completing his residency, he was drafted into the United States Army and served as a captain at Walter Reed Army Institute from 1957 to 1959, in the Department of Nuclear Medicine. After leaving the army, he continued as a civilian on the Walter Reed staff, serving as chief of the Radiobiology Division of Nuclear Medicine; in 1965, he became director of the Division of Medicinal Chemistry. His research interests included the effects of ionizing radiation and the development of antimalarial agents. In 1969, he received the Department of the Army’s Decorated Meritorious Civilian Service Award. Later that year, David took a job as vice president of basic research at Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories. Rather than move his wife and five children from Washington, DC, to New Jersey in the middle of the school year, David opted to commute to Rahway, NJ, for nine months, returning to Washington on weekends. In August 1970, the family moved to Princeton, NJ, settling into a house and a community that would be their home for the next 54 years. In 1977, David left Merck and started the Jacobus Pharmaceutical Company, initially synthesizing dapsone, an antileprosy drug, and then developing PASER, a drug for the treatment of tuberculosis.
David’s professional distinctions included awards, affiliations, and numerous publications; his last publication appeared when he was 93. His interests were both broad and deep, and he was guided by an insatiable, lifelong curiosity; he loved to learn. Sheer force of personality was evident in all he did; armed with a laserlike focus and unflagging determination, he never questioned his capacity to solve critical issues of global significance. Throughout his life, David formed lasting friendships. Isle au Haut, ME, held a special place in his heart from his first visit to the island as a teenager; he helped his dad build a family home in Moores Harbor, and he later spent time there with his own children and grandchildren. When on vacation on Isle au Haut, David loved to fish; he went fishing in an open Newfoundland dory with his 4-year-old daughter Marget and an island fisherman and friend, Phil Alley. That trip turned into an epic fishing adventure; David caught a large halibut during a hurricane and, more important, his friend Phil kept him and Marget safe during the storm, teaching him to remove water by tipping the boat from side to side and showing them how to tie themselves into the boat in case they got swept out.
David and Claire loved to entertain and had many close friends in the Princeton community. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad (pfars.org); to the Isle Au Haut School (a check may be sent directly to the school; make checks out to The Isle Au Haut School, c/o Lisa Turner, PO Box 56, Isle au Haut, ME 04645); or to the Outer Islands Teaching and Learning Collaborative (islandinstitute.org).
A private graveside memorial service will be held at a later date.
Allen Ginsberg called “Idiot Wind” one of Bob Dylan’s “great great prophetic national songs,” with “one rhyme that took in the whole nation.” Dylan wrote it 50 years ago this summer, first recorded it in New York that September around the time Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, and recorded it again in December before releasing the final version in January 1975 on the album Blood On the Tracks, which I’ve been listening to ever since Dylan’s 83rd birthday on Friday, May 24.
