[3] Jacobs, based in Minneapolis, became wealthy by taking big stakes in Fortune 500 conglomerates, usually to unlock value by breaking them up.
He read about W. T. Grant filing for bankruptcy in The Wall Street Journal and decided to purchase their consumer accounts receivable.
The house was originally built in 1939 by the son of James Ford Bell, founder of General Mills, and appeared in a few scenes of the 1972 film The Heartbreak Kid not long before he bought it at age 30 for $340,000.
[13] By 2019 Alexandra, Jacobs' wife of 57 years, was using a wheelchair and showing signs of dementia, and he was reported to be distraught over her condition.
Their daughter Sheila has cerebral palsy, and he was a major supporter of the Special Olympics, for which he once served as chairman after donating $8 million in 1991.
Jacobs and his wife were found dead of gunshot wounds on a bed in their Orono home on the morning of April 10, 2019.
The Hennepin County medical examiner concluded that Irwin Jacobs shot his wife and then himself.