Lillian Jacobs, Lived on Block for Century, Dies
Lillian Jacobs, who was recently featured in a New York Times article for living on the same block for 100 years, has died.
Jacobs, who moved to East 84th Street on Manhattan’s Upper East Side when she was 2, died Sunday on the same street at age 102. Her story was reported last month in a Times story titled “100 Years of Staying Put.”
Jacobs arrived on East 84th in 1911 or 1912 with her parents, who owned a candy store in the building. She has lived in five homes on the block, all within 1,200 feet of one another.
For many years Jacobs worked at Ramaz, a Modern Orthodox Jewish day school in the area. Though her title was assistant to the principal, Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, the current principal and founder’s son, told The New York Times that it does not begin to describe her work at the school.
“She was the registrar, the admissions officer, the fund-raiser, the director of food services, the nurse, the school psychologist, the parent liaison – I’m not gilding the lily here,” said Lookstein.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
