Barry Jacobson

Jacobson, Barry, 93, died on February 21, 2019, in Wynnewood, PA where he lived for 6 years with his daughter, Mercedes Jacobson, and son-in-law, Eric Greenblatt. Born Baruch S. Jacobson in the Bronx, he attended Bronx School of Science, graduating at 16 during WWII, and enrolling in Columbia University before serving in the Army in Germany at the close of the war. Upon returning, he left NY for northern California, farmed chickens, and then earned a Ph.D. in Physics from Cal Berkeley. There, he also married his bride of nearly 50 years, Guadalupe Savedra. In their time together he became a Professor at the University of Texas, University of Minnesota, and Central Michigan University where he was on the faculty for 20 years. He published his final academic paper at age 80. The last decades of his life were rich and varied, even after his wife passed away. With Betty Owen, he toured the Western states that she’d grown up in. Baruch is survived by his sons, Carlos and Ramon; daughters, Mercedes and Raquel; grandchildren, Nick, Marielle, Liliana, Lupita, Zelia, Soli, and Mateo; and great-grandchildren, Lydia and Zeke. They provided him new audiences for his old jokes, and in return, they were tech support for his phone. Political activism was one of the key values that he shared with his progeny. Raised in a questioning Jewish household and married to a Catholic, he was for 70 years a Unitarian, a decidedly open-minded faith. Asked about aging, he’d reply, “well, it beats the alternative”. When the alternative was unavoidable, his burial instructions were simply, “surprise me”. Barry Jacobson will be interred at Washington’s Crossing cemetery along with Guadalupe Savedra Jacobson. Donations in his honor may be made to Union of Concerned Scientists and CMU’s Department of Physics.