Professor Emeritus Alf E. Jacobson
Professor Emeritus Alf E. Jacobson died at New London Hospital on April 18, 2010, at the age of 86. He joined Colby Junior College in 1958, teaching courses in economics, history and international relations until 1986.
Alf Jacobson was born in Spokane, Wash., on April 4, 1924, the son of Carl and Emmy (Borjesson) Jacobson. He earned an A.A. degree from North Park College in 1948, a B.S. degree from Northwestern University in 1952, a master's degree from Tufts in 1954 and a doctorate from Harvard in 1963. While pursuing his doctoral studies, he moved to New London to begin his long tenure as a faculty member here.
Professor Emerita Hilary Cleveland, whose tenure in the same department preceded Professor Jacobson's by a few years, knew him well and recalls him as an active and engaged presence on campus. “He was quite beloved by students. He even took them for study abroad one year,” she says. “I would also call him a Renaissance man. He had so many different interests, so many irons in the fire.”
When Academic Vice President Deborah Taylor joined the faculty in 1976, Professor Jacobson was chair of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department (now Social Sciences and Education). She remembers that one of his long-standing traditions was to stop by the department's faculty offices each morning before his 8 a.m. classes. “His classic greeting was 'What's new and exciting?' to which I invariably responded, “Why, you, Alf!” she says. “And that was more than a little true. Alf had a lively mind and wit, and a very deep connection to students, and to his fields of interest (economics, history, international relations, and old books).”
“Alf and (his wife) Sonja hosted the department's holiday party every year, and their home was always full of convivial chatter, wonderful smells of Swedish cooking, and a treasure trove of memorabilia placed throughout the house,” Vice President Taylor recalls. “Alf's study was a tiny room, filled to the ceiling with old books, and though they appeared to be everywhere and in no particular order, he knew where each beloved book was placed, and talked about each with the warmth and intimate knowledge of a dear friend. One of Alf's oft-stated beliefs was that a good teacher could teach anything. Alf taught what seemed like everything, and was known for both his rigor and his caring for students.”
Longtime Legislator, Civic Activist, and Soldier
Along with his academic career, Professor Jacobson also served in the New Hampshire Legislature as the New London senator from 1969 to 1978, including six years as Senate president, and as a state representative from 1982 to 1992 and from 1994 to 2001.
A Concord Monitor article published on April 21, 2010, lauds him in its headline as the “Conscience of the House.” The piece notes that the longtime legislator was known for an intellectual approach to lawmaking that transcended political parties and “brought both wit and wisdom to legislative debates, as well as a reputation for charting his own course.”
A lifelong Republican, Jacobson's positions often placed him outside of the party's mainstream views, particularly his support for abortion rights and a statewide income tax and. He also pushed for increasing the minimum wage and abolishing the death penalty. “Colleagues said Jacobson…had little concern for ideological purity. He saw politics as a forum for ideas and a place to challenge rigid thought patterns,” the article states. “Party labels were less important to him than vigorous, open debate. Many fellow House members said it was such a perspective, always thoughtfully articulated, that helped Jacobson command respect and influence within the Legislature.”
Professor Jacobson was equally engaged in local activities, serving as a Tracy Memorial Library trustee, a planning board member, town moderator, selectman, welfare director, and a longtime moderator for the Kearsarge Regional School District. He was also an original trustee of the Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust and a member of the New London Historical Society. He somehow found time to host “More than the Two of Us,” a radio talk show on WNTK, and to write “The State of Things,” a column about state politics, for a local publication.
Professor Jacobson received the American Church History Society Book Award in 1965, the North Park College Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1983 and the New Hampshire ACLU Bill of Rights Award in 1994. In 2001, the New London Service Organization presented him and his wife Sonja with the Third-of-a-Century Award for outstanding community service.
Earlier in his life, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II and acted as the battalion interpreter due to his fluency in Japanese and Swedish. He also knew German and Spanish.
The Concord Monitor reported that as a 20-year-old marine in 1945, Jacobson survived some of the fiercest fighting of the war in the month long Battle of Iwo Jima. “For years, on the anniversary of the battle's first day, Jacobson would take to the House floor and ask his fellow legislators to remember the soldiers who did not survive the bloodshed,” the article states.
A Colleague and a Friend
Humanities Professor Patrick Anderson, who joined the college in 1977, echoed his faculty colleagues' respect and admiration for Professor Jacobson. “When I think of Alf Jacobson, I think of a man who had an insatiable curiosity, a characteristic borne of his eclectic interests and his myriad accomplishments. This made him a born teacher and an effective state legislator,” he notes. “His was a strong voice at faculty meetings, town meetings and the state legislature, leaving an indelible impression wherever he went. He and Sonja were a most gracious, hospitable couple, welcoming new faculty members to the community in a warm and inviting fashion and establishing friendships which were meaningful and lasting.”
After he retired from the faculty in 1986, Professor Jacobson continued his friendships with college community members and officiated at the wedding of longtime faculty members Janet and Jerry Bliss in December 1990.“It was an unusually warm December day and thus Alf convinced Jerry and me to have the ceremony outside on the deck,” Janet Bliss remembers. “He kept it pretty brief though because, as I suspected, once he learned the wedding cake was a German Chocolate one he was eager for a piece. Sure enough, he bypassed the rest of the meal to have the first and most generous slice of Jerry's mother's famous dessert.”
In an article by David Morcom in the Colby-Sawyer College Alumni Magazine titled “Alf Jacobson: A Man of Many Hats,” Professor Jacobson was asked what he'd like to add to his profile as he approached retirement. “I'd like the alumni to know I spent 28 years at Colby-Sawyer and never had a boring day,” he said. “It was fun, and I'd often tell my friends in the legislature in Concord it was the best job I could ever wish for.”
Services and Contributions
Family members include his wife of 58 years, Sonja (Torstenson) Jacobson of New London; two sons, Brent B. Jacobson of New London and Kurt T. Jacobson of Dover; and a granddaughter.
Calling hours are Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Chadwick Funeral Home, 235 Main St., New London. A funeral service will be held Saturday at 3 p.m. at The First Baptist Church of New London. Burial will take place in the Old Main Street Cemetery in New London.
In accordance with the Jacobson family's wishes, memorial contributions may be made to Colby-Sawyer College, 541 Main St., New London, NH 03257. To sign an online guestbook, please visit www.chadwickfuneralservice.com.
