Jay Erich Jacoby

Service : Monday, May 5th at 11:30 am
Service Location: Shalom Chapel Service
Shalom Memorial Funeral Home
1700 West Rand Road
Arlington Heights, IL 60004

Interment:
Shalom Memorial Park
1700 W. Rand Road
Arlington Heights

Shiva Information

Jacoby Residence
1572 McDaniels Avenue
Highland Park, Illinois 60035

Monday following the service to 8 PM
Tuesday and Wednesday 4 PM to 8 PM

Parking is limited and despite the no parking signs, parking is available on McDaniels, Kimball, Court, and Goff.
Please only park on one side of the street.
ABSOLUTELY NO parking on Central or Laurel Avenues.

Shiva Coordinator is Randi Berger from Shiva Ladies.
Randi may be reached at 773-742-2702

Contributions
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Imerman Angels http://www.imermanangels.org, an organization that is very special to the Jacoby family and has provided support over the years as Jay and Leah battled cancer. Imerman provides one-on-one cancer support and mentoring for anyone affected by cancer, so no one faces cancer alone.

Jay Erich Jacoby, 61, of Highland Park, IL, passed away peacefully on May 2, 2025, after a courageous battle with Glioblastoma brain cancer.

He was the beloved husband and best friend of Kim (nee Simon) for 31 wonderful years; loving father of Rachel and Leah Jacoby; devoted son of the late Joanne and Gerhard Jacoby and son-in-law of Lillian and the late Ronald Simon; dear brother of Jeffrey Jacoby and brother-in-law of Heidi (Matthew) Forte and Jamie (Michael) Wainick; treasured uncle, cousin and friend of many, and devoted dog dad to Chloe.

Jay graduated from Northeastern University and lived in downtown Chicago, where he met his beloved wife, Kim. Jay and Kim got married and had two amazing daughters, Rachel and Leah. Family was everything to Jay. He spent hours on the sidelines watching the girls play basketball, soccer, lacrosse, and tennis, and even dabbled in coaching their softball teams.

Jay and Kim shared a passion for travel, and passed that travel bug on to their girls. Jay was always planning their next adventure. Especially memorable are Croatia, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Marco Island, Paris, Greece, Iceland, and biking through the Czech Republic and Italy. A few years ago, Jay and Kim purchased a place in Boca West and made wonderful memories each winter at “Camp Boca.” Jay referred to Boca as “his happy place.”

In Jay’s free time, he loved playing pickleball and games, such as backgammon, rummy, canasta, poker, sequence, and baggo. Jay loved 80’s music and was a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. He had the uncanny ability to hear a song on the radio and name the artist and year instantly.

Jay loved the outdoors and nature, from bird watching to gardening to searching for seashells on Marco Island. Jay was quiet and an excellent listener, with an unexpected sense of humor. Jay loved his family and friends deeply, including the family dog, Chloe. He was a huge fan of all Chicago sports-especially the Blackhawks. Jay and “the boys” would hang out every Sunday and watch “Da Bears.”

While Jay didn’t cook much, he was the “breakfast guy.” He would eat breakfast foods morning, noon, and evening. His homemade waffles, pancakes, and crepes were infamous. Jay was known for his love of desserts (especially turtles) and his sweet tooth. He loved his coffee, but only with lots of sugar and equal amounts of coffee and cream. He never passed up an opportunity to have an apple pancake at Walker Brothers.

Anyone who knew Jay was touched by his kindness, humor, and easy-going personality. He always referred to himself as “a lover, not a fighter.”

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Imerman Angels (www.imermanangels.org), an organization that is very special to the Jacoby family and has provided support over the years as Jay and Leah battled cancer. Imerman provides one-on-one cancer support and mentoring for anyone affected by cancer, so no one faces cancer alone. Chapel service Monday 11:30 AM at Shalom Memorial Funeral Home, 1700 W. Rand Road, Arlington Heights. Interment Shalom Memorial Park. For a link to virtually view the service, shiva information and leave condolences, www.shalommemorial.org or (847) 255-3520.