The family of Trustee Emeritus Michael Jacobson attends a Stockton board meeting on Zoom.
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP – The Stockton University Board of Trustees has named the board’s meeting room in the Campus Center in memory of longtime trustee Michael Jacobson.
Michael Jacobson
Jacobson, a Margate resident who passed away in October, was the university’s longest-serving trustee. He was appointed in 1985 and during his 35-year tenure served as board chairman twice, from 1994-1996 and 2001-2004.
The naming as recommended by the University Naming Committee, the university’s president and the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, and was approved by the full board at its Dec. 9 meeting.
Jacobson’s widow, Sarah, and other family members attended the meeting via Zoom and thanked the board for the recognition, saying it was a fitting tribute.
“Anyone who knows Michael knows how much he loved Stockton,” Sarah Jacobson said.
She recalled going into labor in 1986 and having to call the college to ask then-President Vera King Farris to send Michael home from a meeting.
His son, Dan, said his father worked long hours as an attorney, but never thought of giving up his role at Stockton because he enjoyed it so much.
“Those hours were pure pleasure for him,” he said.
A plaque for the “Michael Jacobson Board of Trustees Room” will be installed in the room. Jacobson was also posthumously granted the status of Trustee Emeritus.
“The room will forever now be the Michael Jacobson Board of Trustees room,” Board chair Raymond Ciccone said.
The board resolution cites his support for the new Atlantic City campus, as well as expansion in Galloway Township, including Housing V, the Campus Center and the Unified Science Center.
“I could tell you 35 years of stories,” said President Harvey Kesselman, who thanked the family for allowing him to be such an integral part of Stockton for so long. “He was a man of tremendous integrity. He understood how to be a trustee.”
Board members shared memories of working and socializing with Jacobson.
“When he spoke, we all listened” said Ciccone. “All of us looked up to him. He will be forever in our hearts.”
In other business, the board approved the purchase of a parking lot at 3428 Atlantic Ave. in Atlantic City.
The property, located behind the Stockton Rothenberg Building is owned by the City of Atlantic City. City Council approved an ordinance authorizing the sale in November. The Stockton Board of Trustees Executive Committee authorized moving forward with the purchase in November and a formal resolution was included on the agenda for the Dec. 9 board meeting.
The 11,982 square-foot site will support facilities and operations at the Rothenberg Building and the Atlantic City campus. It is adjacent to the new Stockton residential facility being constructed at the Atlantic City campus.
The site is being purchased for the appraised value of $383,000.
“We are buying the parking lot for use by our Rothenberg Building employees and guests,” Vice President for Facilities and Operations Donald Hudson said. “The property also gives us growth potential for future expansion.”
The Rothenberg Building, a former law office purchased by Stockton in 2016, currently houses the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Stockton, and the Stockton Office of Continuing Studies.
Stockton University Rothenberg Building.
