Jacobs' Gift Will Support New Sports/Fitness Complex

SELINSGROVE, Pa. - Dr. Clyde H. Jacobs, retired ophthalmologist from Northumberland, with his wife, Alice Ann Patterson Jacobs, have pledged a $1 million gift to Susquehanna University's current capital campaign for the construction of a new fitness center on campus. The fitness center is part of a $14 million project to construct a new sports and fitness complex, which will also include a new field house and new football stadium and track.

Jacobs' gift reflects his belief that education should include not only mental exercise, but physical exercise as well. "Physical fitness is an important part of life," he said. "You have to encourage people to participate. What good is a healthy mind if you shorten life by bad habits?"

An avid tennis player, he has won five senior world championships for doctors since 1980, and one national U.S. Tennis Association senior championship in 1992.

The new fitness center will be a glass-fronted, 9,300-square-foot, two-level addition to O.W. Houts Gymnasium, providing an exciting new entrance to the building and ample fitness areas for students. The first floor will house selectorized weight-training machines, while the upper level will be dedicated to aerobic fitness equipment including treadmills, stair steppers, stationary bicycles and rowing machines. In addition, there will be a new student lounge with café dining near the lobby.

A premedical student at the University of Illinois and graduate of Loyola University School of Medicine, Jacobs learned about Susquehanna University when investigating colleges with his son, the late Skip Jacobs. His son subsequently attended Susquehanna, graduating in 1965. Since that time, Jacobs said he has spent hundreds of hours on campus, most of them on SU's tennis courts, and has become a good friend of the University. He cites his special friendship with the late Dr. Gustave Weber, Susquehanna's president from 1959 to 1977, and points out that he met his wife, Alice Ann, at a Susquehanna event. A Susquehanna graduate, she is a member of the University's board of directors and chair of the Leadership Development Program for the Susquehanna 2000: The Next Challenge campaign.

"Philanthropy - and Susquehanna - have become a part of my life and I am thrilled to be able to make this gift," Jacobs said. "College is very important, and it is extremely important to keep active while at college. You can't be happy without good health."

Susquehanna's board of directors has made the renovation and expansion of sports and fitness facilities an urgent priority in the University's $42 million capital fundraising campaign. In addition to the sports and fitness complex, other campaign priorities include building the University's endowment and strengthening the annual Susquehanna University Fund. Other building priorities, including a new student housing complex and a new business and communications center, have also been funded by campaign gifts.

"We are thrilled with the Jacobs' gift which will help Susquehanna meet students' need for additional fitness space," said University President Joel Cunningham. "Clyde is a wonderful example of how a lifelong commitment to fitness and good health can enhance the quality of life, and Alice Ann is a super board member. This gift will positively influence the lives of many Susquehanna students."

Subsequent to his specialty training at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, Jacobs was director of the Department of Ophthalmology at Geisinger Medical Center for 14 years before opening his practice in Sunbury in 1954. He was also an ophthalmologist at Sunbury

Community Hospital from 1954 to 1988. Alice Ann Patterson Jacobs was president of the Educational Foundation of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) from 1993 to 1997 and now serves as a member of the President's Team of the AAUW Educational Foundation.

Last updated March 14, 2000 Chad Emerich, Office of Public Relations ©1999 Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA 17870 Phone: 570-372-4119   Fax:570-372-4048