[2] In 1949, he graduated from Indiana University with a degree in business administration and accepted a job with a development company in Akron.

[2] In 1955, he and his brother, David H. Jacobs, started a general contracting company that concentrated on the building of small strip malls.

Among its properties are Key Tower and Westgate Mall in Cleveland, Ohio, and Triangle Town Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Jacobs' tenure as Indians owner marked one of the team's most successful periods in franchise history the team went 1119-1080 during the regular season, and 25-22 during the postseason, reaching the World Series on two occasions (1995, and 1997), and winning American League Central Division championships in five consecutive seasons (1995-1999).

Under Jacobs ownership the Indians also hosted the 1997 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the first held in Cleveland in sixteen years.