Pastor Jacobs was born in Philadelphia PA on April 17, 1941, the second of five sons of Jean and Jeff Jacobs. His father was a tax attorney and his mother a homemaker, artist and neighborhood Den mother. Pastor Jacobs attended Cheltenham High School, Muhlenberg College (BA 1963) and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (MDiv 1966). He continued graduate studies in New Testament while serving two congregations in Philadelphia from 1966 - 1974. He entered the realm of Lutheran Campus Ministry at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI (1974-82), followed by Stanford University (1982-85), arriving at UW Milwaukee in 1985, serving until 2003. He also was the Director of the Gamaliel Chair in Peace and Justice from 1985 - 2005.

Pastor Jacobs is married to Drusilla Cagnoni, a dancer and teacher. They have one daughter, Risa, who is a product of the Milwaukee High School of the Arts and the University of Illinois at Chicago and is now a graduate student at the Adler School of Psychology in Chicago IL. They have lived in Sherman Park for 25 years, enjoying the theater and arts community, as well as the coffee shops. They also co-habit with two cats, Strider and Mike.

Pastor Jacobs is an avid poet and tennis player. He also teaches the Introduction to the New Testament classes for the synod and the Diakonia program. For the last seven years he has served as an interim pastor at many congregations in transition in the synod.