WILLIAM LE GRAND JACOB

Born 26th July 1928 - Died 20th September 2013

 

 

A son of Lieutenant-General Sir Ian Jacob. On 6th March 1954 he married Rhonda McComas, daughter of Oliver Parker McComas, of the USA; they have children:

 

As High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1992, at Brook House.

 

William Jacob, who died on Friday 20th September, was born in Woodbridge on 26 July 1928, the son of Lt Gen Sir Ian and Lady Cecil Jacob. He went to Rottingdean School at thirteen before being sent to Dartmouth Naval College to be trained for a commission in the Royal Navy, where he excelled passing out with the highest marks in mathematics. It was at Dartmouth that he started his training for the Royal Navy in which he served as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm. He flew Sea Fury aircraft in the Korean War, flying 160 combat missions. He was shot down in the sea and was rescued by the US Navy. On return to his ship he was immediately briefed to go on another mission the same day to the same place; his commanding officer commenting ‘well, you know the way there at least’. He continued to serve after the war was over, principally in Malta, Northern Ireland and in the United States where he served as ADC to Admiral William Halsey, the British Naval Attache in Washington. It was here that he met Rhonda McComas on his first evening (having stated he would not fall for an American) whom he married in May 1954 in New York, and remained married until his death; they have two sons. He left the Navy in early 1957 (becoming a member of the Castaway Club, whose members were Officers who by a quirk of bureaucracy lost their pensions on leaving the Navy, which he supported for the remainder of his life) to pursue a career in industry becoming, in 1965 the youngest executive ever to be appointed a director of Tubes Investments. He went on to become Managing Director of BSA and Triumph motorcycles in the United States before returning to Suffolk where he became Chief Executive of East Anglian Securities Trust. He also was a founding director of Radio Orwell (with his brother John Jacob) and after the sale of Radio Orwell he continued his association with the Radio industry becoming Chairman of several Tindle group radio stations including Dream 100. He was also chairman of English Hops and was a founder of IDJ Limited a London based Merchant Bank.

In addition to his diverse business interests he was active in charitable activities and the arts. He served for many years on the Board of the Aldeburgh Foundation, was one of the founders of the Abbeyfield retirement home at Highlands in Woodbridge, was local Chairman of MacMillan Cancer Research and a trustee, and subsequently a Vice President of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. He also has been a supporter of the Christian Social Uplift Movement in Jacobabad, Pakistan (a city named after General John Jacob, a forbearer) which is a charity dedicated to educating children of all faiths.

In 1991 he was appointed High Sherriff of Suffolk and was present with all serving High Sheriffs at York Cathedral for the procession and Service to celebrate the Millenium year of that office. He was an active supporter of countryside pursuits and sailed, owning a number of boats on the River Deben.

 

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