Bank officer avid fan of downtown

3/16/2009

Gerald "Gerry" Jacoby, 79, an accountant who served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Ohio Citizens Trust, died Thursday in his Perrysburg home.

He died of lung cancer, said Betty Jacoby, his wife of 53 years.

Mr. Jacoby always had a head for numbers and thoroughly enjoyed his banking work in downtown Toledo, his family said.

He joined Ohio Citizens Trust Co. as a senior accountant in 1966. He later became assistant controller and controller before being named a vice president.

He retired in 1990 from National City Bank, which had merged with Ohio Citizens years earlier.

One of Mr. Jacoby's favorite parts of the job was working with young accountants and bankers, Mrs. Jacoby said.

"He was a good mentor to people," she said. "He knew how to help people do the best in themselves. What he did was enable people to promote themselves."

While he was a dedicated worker, Mrs. Jacoby said, her husband was 100 percent family man at home.

"He never brought his work home with him and he always was there for his family," she said.

Prior to joining Ohio Citizens Trust, he worked as a public accountant for Arthur Young & Co. and as controller for Alum-A-Seal Manufacturing Co.

Mr. Jacoby grew up in Fostoria, but had a passionate love for Toledo, particularly downtown Toledo.

The family made it a point to be in the city for milestones such as when the then-Cherry Street Bridge reopened after reconstruction, the final touches of the Fiberglas Tower construction, and when the first jet flew out of Toledo Express Airport, Mrs. Jacoby said.

Mr. Jacoby served on the boards of various organizations, including the Greater Toledo Convention & Vistors Bureau and Toledo Area Humane Society. And he was involved in the Wood County Democrats, knocking on more than 200 doors for President Obama during the election.

He particularly enjoyed working with the humane society, his daughter Andrea Brady said.

His favorite dog, a beagle mix, came from the humane society and from then out, all his children had beagles for pets and he loved those too, Ms. Brady said.

Ms. Brady said her father was always there for her and her siblings, and later for his grandchildren.

Her favorite memory is watching television with him because of his infectious, boisterous laugh.

"All of us wanted to be just like him, his daughters included," she said.

Mr. Jacoby served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War.

He was an avid reader and had a great memory to later recite what he'd read, Ms. Brady said.

Mr. Jacoby is survived by his wife, Betty; sons, Matthew, Michael, Bart, and James Jacoby; daughters, Andrea Brady and Jeanne Eisemann; sisters, Jane Moran, Susan Lowery, and Kathryn McKelvey, and 13 grandchildren.

Visitation will be after 4 p.m. today at Witzler-Shank Funeral Home, Perrysburg.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:15 a.m. tomorrow at St. Rose Church in Perrysburg, where he was a member.

The family suggests tributes to Hospice of Northwest Ohio or St. Rose Church.