The Gainesville media giant who died last Wednesday was my boss for 40 years.<br />
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John W. Jacobs, Jr., had retired a number of years ago from the day-to-day grind of running the company he and nine other World War II veterans founded in 1949. But he was still very much a presence around the office, dropping in several times a week, attending company functions such as staff meetings and our annual Thanksgiving and Christmas luncheons. He was at this year's Thanksgiving feast, just one day before suffering the stroke that would claim his life a few days later. <br />
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I am not going to dwell on the well-documented contributions he made to the industry, which earned him the respect and admiration of his fellow broadcasters here and around the state and, yes, even the country. Also well-documented are the contributions he made to this community which he loved and helped to prosper.<br />
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But let me tell you about a side of him you may not be aware of.<br />
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Mr. Jacobs, as he was known around the office to most of us, was a caring and generous and supportive employer in addition to being a visionary when it came to being on the cutting edge of the industry whether it was adding FM radio to the Gainesville market, bring cable television to town or launching its first news-oriented Web site.<br />
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But he was never too busy as head of the company and in retirement when he was busy with such projects as the Northeast Georgia History Center to ask about an employee's family, children, grandchildren... and it was a sincere inquiry, never just a token one. I know it sounds like a cliche' but he truly treated his employees as if they were part of his family. <br />
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And, son John W. Jacobs III (Jay), now the President & CEO of the company, has continued to build on the foundation his dad laid.<br />
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There were times when I had offers of other jobs over the past 40 years, some of which I gave serious consideration. Many times I've been asked "why have you stayed so long?" The answer was always the same: When I weighed the pros and cons of leaving and placing myself and my family into an "unknown," things were heavily tilted toward staying. <br />
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There are not many of us in the radio business who stay in a small or medium market for so long, even in a major market. It is something a rarity these days. Oh, there are a few but we are the exception. And, John W. Jacobs, Jr., was a key part of my decision.<br />
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There was a fund-raising banquet held in his honor a couple of years ago at Riverside Military Academy. Afterwards I walked up to him and told him what an "honor and privilege" it had been to call him "boss all these years." He, of course, thanked me and then moved on to the next well-wisher.<br />
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But the next day, at the office, he called me aside and told me again. in greater detail, how much he "appreciated" what I had said the night before.<br />
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I am so thankful I had the chance to tell him that and, today, I mean it even more than ever.<br />
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"Mr. Jacobs, it was an honor and a privilege to call you 'boss' all these years."<br />
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<I>(AccessNorthGa.com's Ken Stanford is the Newsroom Manager for WDUN-AM 550, WDUN-FM 102.9, 1240 ESPN Radio, and AccessNorthGa.com.)<I>
