Robert J. Jacoby

ROBERT JAMES JACOBY  
Robert James Jacoby, a division vice-president of the Lennar Corporation, died October 27, 2011 at the age of 63 of pancreatic cancer at The Washington Home. A resident of the District for more than 40 years, Mr. Jacoby worked in the homebuilding industry for most of his professional life. Before joining Lennar, a national homebuilding company, in 2005, Mr. Jacoby served as senior vice-president of Kettler, a firm specializing in housing in Washington, Maryland and Virginia, as vice-president of the Congressional Mortgage Corporation and as an executive with several other housing-related businesses. Mr. Jacoby, known as Bob, was the son of Robert and Irma Broderick Jacoby. He was born in Chicago, IL, and raised in Lansing, MI. While attending Georgetown University in the late 1960s, he took his first job as an accountant for the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT), established by Congress in 1962 for the then-novel purpose of promoting satellite-controlled communications within the U.S. While Bob eventually moved from accounting to the housing business, his talent for numbers was a constant throughout his career. Like his father, who owned an accounting firm in Lansing, and his uncle, Oswald Jacoby, an international tournament bridge champion from the 1930s to the 1980s, Bob was a "human calculator" who could add five-column figures in his head. He was also a devoted, lifelong fan of Georgetown Hoya basketball, a great cook and a lover of World War II and Cold War spy novels.In 1973, Mr. Jacoby married Dr. Eve Moscicki. The couple had two daughters and their marriage ended in divorce. Mr. Jacoby is survived by his daughters, Alexandra S. Jacoby and Anna S.B. Jacoby, of Washington; his sister, Susan Jacoby, of New York City; and his mother, of East Lansing, MI. A memorial ceremony will be held for Mr. Jacoby on Thursday, Nov. 10, from 5:30-8 p.m. at the DeVol Funeral Home, 2222 Wisconsin Avenue NW. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations in Mr. Jacoby's name be sent to City At Peace D.C. or the Washington Humane Society.