Isabel Fenster Jacobs

1932 - 2023

Isabel Fenster Jacobs passed away peacefully at home on March 28, 2023, at the age of 90. The daughter of Oscar Fenster and Bessie (Schafran) Fenster, she was born in New York and raised in New Britain, Connecticut. She graduated from Barnard College, where she met her husband, Dr. Jerry Charles Jacobs, who predeceased her in 1997, and from Teachers College, Columbia.

Together, Isabel and Jerry had three children, Deborah (Ken Stern), Daniel, and Paul (Lisa Rau); and three grandchildren, Bryan Rau Jacobs (Kaleigh Kenney), Kelly Rau Jacobs, and Jack Stern; all of whom survive her.

Isabel, a retired school teacher, taught high school history and economics in the New York City public school system. She was extraordinarily well-read and informed, and an avid conversationalist. She traveled the world with her husband, visiting countries all over the globe from Uzbekistan to Guatemala, and loved to regale listeners about those experiences.

After her husband's death, Isabel reconnected with her New England roots by moving to Williamstown, Massachusetts, where she made new friends, was active in the League of Women Voters, and was a supporter of the library, garden club, and the Clark Art Institute. Fiercely independent, she continued to maintain an apartment - but not a parking spot - in Manhattan, and prided herself both on her ability to drive herself between Massachusetts and New York and to avoid alternate side of the street parking tickets on the Upper West Side.

A private burial service was held, attended by immediate family. Donations can be made to Columbia University or Barnard College in New York, or to the League of Women Voters Education Fund in Williamstown, Massachusetts.