Clark College Trustee Jane Jacobsen has died, the college announced last week.
The Clark College Foundation stated Jacobsen “passed away unexpectedly” May 22. Jacobsen, 72, had been a member of the college’s board of trustees since 2016, including time as the board chair from 2019 to 2020.
Clark College President Karin Edwards called Jacobsen “an indefatigable cheerleader for the college,” the release stated.
“She liked to say that Clark was ‘the community’s college,’ because to her, uplifting and positively impacting the community was the most important and valuable part of our mission,” Edwards wrote in an email to the Clark College community announcing Jacobsen’s death.
In her position on the board, Jacobsen also served on the Clark College Presidential Search Advisory Committee that selected Edwards, as well as the Social Equity Advisory Council, Guided Pathways Committee, and as an alternate for the Washington State Association of College Trustees Legislative Action Committee Representative, the release stated.
Jacobsen’s work outside of the college included board membership with the Columbia Land Trust and the Columbia River Gorge Commission. She was the founding executive director for the Confluence Project, which creates interpretive artwork in places along the Columbia River, a 2019 article from the Clark College Foundation stated.
“I know Jane touched the lives of many people at the college — including my own — and I know she will be missed,” Edwards wrote in her email.
Jacobsen lived in Clark County for more than 30 years, during which she was a “generous donor” for the college, a release from the Clark College Foundation stated. The Foundation’s 2019 article stated Jacobsen was integral in establishing a board of trustees’ scholarship in 2017. The article noted her philanthropy began when she was 5 years old when she left loaves of bread on the doorsteps of families having a hard time.
“To be able to give something to people was meaningful. We were just letting them know that people care. (The neighbors) didn’t need to know who did it,” Jacobsen recalled in the article.
The other four members of the college’s board of trustees said Jacobsen was a fervent college supporter and a trustee who was able to make difficult decisions on behalf of the college, writing “(when there was critical work to be done, Jane would diligently roll up her sleeves and get to it.”
“Those who knew Jane will remember her warmth, her kindness and her seemingly limitless capacity for positive energy,” the trustees wrote. “Whenever there was a college event, you could count on Jane to be in attendance, joyfully participating in any activity offered. Whenever we had the opportunity to engage with students, Jane was the first to congratulate them on their successes and let them know she believed in their capacity to build better futures for themselves.”
The trustees said one of Jacobsen’s qualities they will miss most is “her foundational belief in the power of community.”
“She was always there to remind us that whatever decisions we made about Clark College would have profound effects on the entire Southwest Washington region,” the trustees’ letter read. “It was a true honor and privilege to work with Jane. Her presence will be truly missed.”
Jacobsen’s replacement will be appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee for a five-year term.
