Jeremy M. Jacobs, ’60, Chairman

Jeremy “Jerry” M. Jacobs is chairman of Delaware North and chairman and governor of the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Jerry also serves as chairman of the NHL’s Board of Governors and chairman of the University at Buffalo’s (UB) Council.

Since 1968, Jerry has led the company through decades growth and expansion. Delaware North is a family-owned global leader in hospitality, with operations in food and retail at airports and sports venues, sports facility ownership and management, hospitality services at parks and major tourist attractions, hotel ownership and management, gaming operations and fine dining and catering. Jerry’s sons Jerry Jr., Lou and Charlie serve as CEOs of the more than 100-year-old company which maintains a corporate headquarters in Buffalo, N.Y.

In 1975, Jerry acquired the Boston Bruins and the team’s home venue, the Boston Garden. Twenty years later, he built a new multi-purpose arena in Boston, Mass., that is currently home of the Bruins and the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Over the past 25 years, the TD Garden has undergone many transformations and is now considered one of the most innovative and celebrated venues in North America.

Jerry has held numerous leadership roles in the NHL, including serving on the league’s Audit, Finance and Executive Committees since 1979. In 2007, his peers unanimously elected him to be chairman of the NHL Board of Governors, a role that he holds today. 

For his contributions to hockey and the wider world of sports and entertainment, Jerry was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 2006, awarded the Hockey Legacy Award from the Sports Museum in Boston in 2012, inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2013, and awarded the prestigious Lester Patrick Trophy from USA Hockey in 2015. He was named to the Sports Business Journal Champions: Pioneers in Sports Innovation & Business class of 2016, was inducted into the 2016 class of the Massachusetts Hockey Hall of Fame, and in 2017, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, the sport’s highest honor. In 2021, Jerry was inducted into the American Gaming Association Hall of Fame.

Jerry is an alumnus and his family are longtime supporters of UB, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system. In addition to being appointed chair of the UB Council in 1998, the university named and dedicated the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in 2015, in recognition of the Jacobs family’s many decades of philanthropy. Most recently, the Jacobses contributed $30 million for the construction of the new, state-of-the-art medical school building in downtown Buffalo.

The Jacobs family also founded the Jacobs Institute, a medical innovation center focused on accelerating device development in vascular medicine, which stands in tribute to Jerry’s late brother, Dr. Lawrence “Larry” Jacobs. The Jacobses have additionally funded scholarships for undergraduate students and student-athletes, supported academic chairs and the UB School of Management, and donated to the university the architectural landmark that was a past headquarters building of Delaware North.

Jerry has provided distinguished service and leadership to the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County and the Jacobs family and Delaware North are significant benefactors to multiple non-profit organizations in Western New York and throughout the United States and world. 

Jerry is a graduate of UB’s School of Management and the Harvard School of Business Advanced Management Program. He holds honorary doctorates from the University at Buffalo, Canisius College, Niagara University, and Johnson & Wales University.

He and his wife, Margaret “Peggy” Jacobs reside in East Aurora, New York. They have six children, 18 grandchildren and a growing family of great-grandchildren.