Paul David Jacobson

On August 23, 2025, Paul David Jacobson - loving father, Gramps, and devoted husband passed away in Falmouth, MA. He was 85.

Paul was born in 1939 to Rabbi Abraham Jacobson and Sonia Pavloff Jacobson. He grew up in Haverhill, MA with his two sisters, Naomi and Ruth, the son of the town Rabbi. A gifted student, he entered MIT to study metallurgy at the age of 16 and later completed post graduate work in Sheffield, England. He met his wife Beverly while in school. They were married 63 years this week.



Paul spent the bulk of his career working as a Metallurgical Engineer at General Electric, a job that took him and Bev to the seacoast of New Hampshire. He garnered several patents in metallurgy and was entrepreneurial before his time owning real estate and rental properties. They moved to Durham NH, drawn to the university town as a great place to watch hockey and raise children. He chose the neighborhood they lived in for over 30 years based on the number of swing sets in the surrounding homes. He ended his career teaching economics and statistics at Cape Cod Community College, when he and Bev retired to East Falmouth.



Paul had many lifelong friends with whom he played chess, bridge and backgammon, engaged in long intellectual debates, short but constant sports commentary, and the occasional fishing trip. He was close to his sisters and adored them. He was a supportive father to Stephen, Jeffrey and Michelle sharing his love of learning with them and was intensely interested in their friends- often having existential themes to the discussions each summer at the Cape for everyone to weigh in on. His grandchildren loved him for captaining the boat at the Cape and his willingness to enable all sorts of activities no other adult would. He loved to travel with Bev and friends. His power of recall for the CNBC stock ticker and Boston sports statistics over the past 50 years remain unrivaled.



Most of all Paul loved Bev. She was his perfect straight man and constant partner. They did everything together including battling Alzheimer's which came too early for him.



He is survived by his wife Beverly, his three children Stephen, Jeffrey and Michelle and their spouses Marina, Nikki and Brad and seven grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider a memorial donation to MIT in memory of Paul Jacobson to support undergraduate research in materials engineering. https://giving.mit.edu/Paul-Jacobson