Pataki appoints Jeremy Jacobs Sr., Gerald S. Lippes to UB Council

Jacobs is chairman and chief executive officer of Delaware North Companies Inc., a $1-billion-plus diversified international holding company owned by him and his immediate family.

Through its subsidiaries, Delaware North Companies is recognized as a world leader in food service, retail operations, recreation and hospitality management, airport services, sports ownership and facility management, and pari-mutuel operations. Jacobs owns the National Hockey League's Boston Bruins franchise and Delaware North owns Boston's FleetCenter sports and entertainment complex, where the Bruins play their home games.

A distinguished attorney, Lippes is founder and managing partner of the law firm of Lippes, Silverstein, Mathias & Wexler, LLP. He represents businesses such as Mark IV Industries, a Fortune 500 company of which he is corporate secretary and a director, and serves on the board of directors of Gibraltar Steel Corp. and National Health Care Affiliates.

UB President William R. Greiner applauded the appointments and the expertise the two will bring to the university's local governing council.

"These are two very exceptional appointments," he added, noting: "They both are UB alumni and they love UB.

"Each will bring to the table exceptional skills based on their own experiences; Jeremy Jacobs in building a world-wide company and Gerald Lippes as a premier business attorney, negotiator and astute investor."

Jacobs will succeed James F. Phillips, whose most recent term expired June 30, 1996. Lippes succeeds John F. Kopczynski, Sr., whose most recent term expired June 30, 1992.

Jacobs, a 1960 graduate of the UB School of Management, has been a trustee of the UB Foundation, Inc. for 25 years. He served as chair of the foundation from 1980-87. He chairs a group of international leaders, known as the President's Board of Visitors, that advises UB on strategic issues.

In 1983, Jacobs donated a $1 million plus endowment to the university to fund two academic chairs in the School of Management. He was named the school's Niagara Frontier Executive of the Year in 1985.

At UB's sesquicentennial commencement last May, Jacobs, a former general campaign chairman for the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County, was awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters from the State University of New York.

Lippes, a 1964 graduate of the UB School of Law, in 1995 received the Jaeckle Award, the highest honor presented by the law school and the UB Law Alumni Association. He serves as chair of the Dean's Advisory Council of the School of Law.

Lippes also is chair of the UB Regional Advisory Board, a member of the President's Board of Visitors at UB and a trustee of the UB Foundation.

The recipient earlier this week of the National Conference's Citation Award for community leadership, Lippes is chair of the Children's Hospital of Buffalo Board of Trustees and a member of Roswell Park Cancer Institute's Community Council and the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation.