Chad A. Jacobs

JACOBS Chad A. Jacobs, age 45 of Westport, loving husband of Karen and devoted father to Taylor, 13 and Mac, 9, died June 11th after a courageous battle with cancer. He was surrounded by loved ones. Chad was born on September 24th, 1964 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and moved to Fairfield, with his family when he was 2 years old. He attended Fairfield College Preparatory School. At Prep he was a member of the '80-'81 Connecticut State Division I championship team and co-captain of the '81 -'82 season hockey team. He graduated from Prep in 1982. He married Karen in 1994 and moved to Westport shortly thereafter to start a family. Chad attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts where he was captain of the men's hockey team and received a B.A. in Economics in 1986. He attended Schiller Institute in Heidleburg, Germany and University of Munich. He received his MBA from the University of Connecticut. Chad began his career at G.X. Clarke Municipal Bond Co. and later at Ladenburg Thalman in the equity research department where he spent several years analyzing the footwear, apparel and retail sectors. He then spent two years as a senior equity analyst and managing director at BT Alex. Brown. On Wall Street he was credited as the first analyst to recognize the unique demographics and spending power associated with the Gen X youth market and he created a research universe dedicated solely to that investment thesis. In 1998, Chad co-founded ICR Inc. with his lifelong friends and fellow Fairfield Prep Class of '82 alumni, Tom Ryan and the late John Flanagan. ICR is a leading financial communications consulting firm specializing in investor and media relations, crisis management, and digital media. In 2010 ICR was ranked the 6th largest, independent communications firm in the country and 2nd largest in the financial communications category. Chad served as Co-CEO and a member of the Board of Directors and built the company to include offices in Norwalk, CT; Boston, MA; New York, NY; Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA; and Beijing, China. Chad was an Executive Board member of the John Patrick Flanagan Foundation. He was the coach of his son's hockey team at Wonderland of Ice this past season and to other Wonderland hockey teams in prior years. Chad was an avid fisherman and loved to fish the waters of Old Mill Beach, Block Island, Montauk, their pond in Vermont, and as a child in Canada and Pennsylvania. He was a fiercely competitive tennis player who often tormented his opponent on the court. And always, Chad was the life of the party making sure him and everyone else was having the time of their lives. Other than his wife and children, Chad is survived by his parents, Donald and Ginny Jacobs of Fairfield, Connecticut, his in-laws George and Judy Sterling of Westport, Karen's sisters and their husbands - Lee and Jim Saveliff and Kelly and Grant Pollard, and his nieces Katie, Maddie and Julia Saveliff and Kaeleigh Pollard all of Westport and many cousins and hundreds of dear friends. Funeral services will be held at the Jacobs' home at 6 Sleigh Ridge, Westport on Wednesday, June 16th at 3 p.m. Interment will be private. The family will receive friends at Spear Miller Funeral Home at 39 South Benson Road on Tuesday, June 15th from 4 to 9 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to The Chad A. Jacobs Memorial Scholarship Fund at P.O. Box 414, Southport, Connecticut 06890. Parking for the funeral will be limited. Please park at the former ICR offices at 450 Post Road East, Westport. Shuttle buses will be provided to and from the house. For information or to sign an online guest register visit www.SpearMillerFuneralHome.com.