UT President Dr. Lloyd Jacobs to receive pacemaker

University of Toledo President Dr. Lloyd Jacobs

UT’s leader to undergo pacemaker procedureDr. Lloyd Jacobs, president of the University of Toledo, is in the UT Medical Center to receive a pacemaker.

UT spokesman Jon Strunk described the procedure for Dr. Jacobs, 72, as “routine,” and he said Dr. Jacobs plans to return to work later this week. He was admitted Sunday to the medical center, the former Medical College of Ohio Hospital.

Mr. Strunk called Dr. Jacob’s health information private when asked what the underlying condition was that caused Dr. Jacobs to need a pacemaker.

When asked if he was concerned whether Dr. Jacobs’ health could impact his ability to lead the university, Joseph H. Zerbey IV, chairman of the UT Board of Trustees, said he was not privy to Dr. Jacobs’ health problems and that Dr. Jacobs planned to return soon to the office.

“I look forward to that, and pray he is OK,” said Mr. Zerbey, who is also president and general manager of The Blade.

President of the university since 2006, Dr. Jacobs and UT announced last month that he would step down effective June 30, 2015, a year before his contract ends. Dr. Jacobs so far has declined to comment about the early departure, and other university officials have not publicly offered an explanation for the decision, only describing it as a “mutually agreed” decision between Dr. Jacobs and the UT Board of Trustees.

Dr. Jacobs previously had told The Blade that — if his health permitted and the board desired — he planned to stay until at least the end of his contract.

When asked if Dr. Jacobs’ health played any role in his decision to leave UT early, the spokesman said that “the president has indicated that in the coming weeks and months he may discuss his previous announcement that he will step down, and I will defer to the timeline he chooses.”

When the president is absent, UT policy calls for the provost to lead the university. Provost Scott Scarborough is a candidate for president of the University of Akron.

Dr. Jacobs will lead a yet-unformed Institute of University Transformation when he steps down.

A trained vascular surgeon, Dr. Jacobs is a 1965 graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He received his medical degree in 1969 from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. From 1989 to 1996, he served as chief of staff at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Ann Arbor.

He served as senior associate dean of the University of Michigan Medical School and chief operating officer of the University of Michigan Health System between 1997 and 2003.

He was named president of the Medical College of Ohio in 2003, replacing the late Dr. Frank McCullough.

When MCO and UT merged in 2006, Dr. Jacobs became the combined institutions’ president.

Contact Nolan Rosenkrans at: nrosenkrans@theblade.com or 419-724-6086, or on Twitter @NolanRosenkrans.