Decades Of Experience
In Personal Injury, Criminal Law And Other Legal Matters
Howard A. Jacobs
November 28, 1924 – April 13, 2015
Jacobs & Dow, LLC, announces with sadness the passing of our founder and mentor Howard A. Jacobs. Howard died on April 13, 2015 at age 90. He was an extraordinary lawyer, gifted with great intelligence, insight and memory, consummately skilled, imaginative and relentless, who kept his eye fixed on the result the client needed. He represented thousands of people who were injured, or accused of crime, or in the throes of divorce. He gave all of them his focused and undivided attention. Along the way he taught us how to practice this profession the right way. Howard lived as he practiced: with fierce and uncompromising zeal. He told us, “Never miss an opportunity to celebrate.” We will always remember him.
Howard A. Jacobs was born in New Haven in 1924. He received a B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1945 and graduated from its law school, with distinction in 1947. While in law school, he was a Senior Editor of the Michigan Law Review. Howard then returned to New Haven to practice law with his father, Israel J. Jacobs, who had practiced law here since 1918. Howard served as President of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association in 1961-62. For more than fifty years, he was heavily involved in criminal defense, personal injury, and domestic relations litigation. He represented thousands of clients and tried hundreds of civil, domestic, and criminal cases in both state and federal courts. He was the senior founding member of Jacobs, Jacobs & Grudberg, P.C. in 1974. His firm changed its name over time, eventually becoming known as Jacobs, Grudberg, Belt, Dow & Katz P.C., and continued in business until 2011. Afterward, Howard remained a member of the Connecticut Bar, of counsel to Jacobs & Dow, LLC until his death in 2015.