Biography
He was born on December 3, 1936 in Bremen, Germany. He attended the University of Hamburg and later Stanford University. He started his career in the global coffee and chocolates industries. In 1962, he became Director of Purchasing and Marketing for the Jacobs AG coffee business. In 1972 he became General Manager of the company. The company merged with Interfood in 1982 to create Jacobs Suchard AG, Europe's number one chocolate and coffee business. When the consumer-oriented elements of Jacobs Suchard were sold to Philip Morris in 1990, Jacobs created with the non-consumer businesses of Jacobs Suchard a company which is now known as Barry Callebaut. Barry Callebaut is today the world's largest raw chocolate producer. Mr. Jacobs became also involved with the human resource services industry in 1991 with the acquisition of Adia Personnel Services where he led the company to a Global Fortune 500 Company following the merger with Ecco in 1996 to form Adecco.
The Jacobs Foundation was established by Klaus J. Jacobs in December, 1988, in Zurich, Switzerland. In 2001, the founder surrendered his entire share of the Jacobs Holding AG to the Jacobs Foundation, with an effective value of CHF 1.5 billion (31.12.08 CHF 2.3 billion). The Jacobs Foundation's goal is to contribute to Productive Youth Development by bringing together basic research, application and intervention projects and through dialogue and network building. The Jacobs Foundation supports research and projects worldwide. Klaus J. Jacobs donated EUR 200 million to the Jacobs University Bremen in 2006.
He died on September 11, 2008 in Küsnacht, Switzerland.
Read more about this topic: Klaus Johann Jacobs
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)
“The best part of a writer’s biography is not the record of his adventures but the story of his style.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs.”
—Rebecca West [Cicily Isabel Fairfield] (1892–1983)