Thomas Douglas Jacobs of Brunswick, Maine passed away after a brief illness on April 29, 2023. He was 89.

Tom was born the youngest of three children to Dorothy (Vincent) and James Jacobs on Oct. 26, 1933 in Sydney, Australia. He was predeceased by his brothers Jim and Bill. Tom had fond memories of growing up in Sydney, especially sailing VJ dinghies on Sydney Harbor with his brother Bill, and attending the Cranbrook School. Every fourth summer he and his family would return to Danville, Pennsylvania, the town from which his parents came. During the war years the family also returned to Danville, except for his father who stayed behind and served as a colonel on General McArthur’s staff.

Tom attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire for his last year of high school, and then received his bachelor’s degree in 1955 from Yale University. After college he joined the U.S. Navy and attended Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island. He was stationed on Nantucket Island and various Caribbean islands, where he was involved in efforts to monitor submarines through the use of sonar devices.

After the Navy he traveled around the world. It was on a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that he met his future bride, Hilary (Reid), a New Zealander, who was completing her own trip around the world. They were married in 1961 in New Canaan, Connecticut.

Tom then joined the Irving Trust Company in New York City and worked in municipal bonds until 1989. During this time, he and Hilary raised their four children in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. They had numerous friends in Hastings. Tom was particularly proud of his children’s athletic abilities and would spend hours spectating at their various competitions. Tom was a volunteer fireman for the Hastings fire department.

In the early 1970s the family started spending their summers on Southport Island, Maine. Tom was a commodore of the Southport Yacht Club and enjoyed racing turnabouts and Rhodes 19 sailboats. In his later years when he was not in a sailboat himself, he would always be out on the water watching his children and grandchildren race. With two homes to maintain, Tom enjoyed repairing and fixing things. He spent hours in his home workshops and took particular pride in the four decks he had built for his different homes.

After leaving the Irving Trust Company, he and Hilary opened the West End Inn, a bed and breakfast, in Portland, Maine. They operated the West End Inn for five years before moving to South Portland, Maine. Tom enjoyed volunteering as a SCORE small-business mentor. In their retirement Tom and Hilary traveled extensively, completing numerous Road Scholars trips and ocean voyages. They particularly enjoyed visiting New Zealand where one of their daughters lives and crossing the Pacific by ship. For the last 15 years Tom and Hilary enjoyed living in the Thornton Oaks Retirement Community in Brunswick, Maine, where Tom was a member of the Finance and Budget Committee.

Tom is survived by his wife of 62 years, Hilary Reid Jacobs; his children Christopher Jacobs and wife Anne Groton Jacobs, Susan Jacobs Apolinsky and husband Steve Apolinsky, Robyn Jacobs Wright and husband Scott Wright, and William Jacobs and wife Diane Lewis; and his grandchildren Chester Jacobs, Sally Apolinsky, Bill Jacobs, Emma Jacobs, Bryce Jacobs, Charlie Apolinsky, Tyler Wright and Morgan Wright. His family will especially miss his keen sense of humor and quick wit.

In lieu of flowers, if you would like to make a memorial contribution please consider the Southport Junior Yacht Club Sailing Foundation, PO Box 68, Southport, ME 04576 or the Southport Memorial Library, 1032 Hendricks Hill Road, Southport, ME 04576. A summer memorial gathering has not yet been scheduled.