Nancy Jacobson

Nancy was born on February 9, 1931 in Los Angeles, California, to the late Walter James Crown, geologist and business owner, and Bernice Kaun Crown, homemaker. Nancy graduated from George Washington High School in Los Angeles and graduated from the University of California at Berkley with a BA in Political Science. She later completed her graduate work in Library Science at Simmons College in Boston. She married Larry Jacobson in 1952 and divorced in 1986. Throughout their marriage, they lived in many places. They started in California, then on to Bellevue, WA, with their next stop in Windsor, VT and then settled for more than 30 years in Andover, MA. After retiring from Memorial Hall Library as Director for 19 years, she moved to Cambridge MA where she became an active student and teacher at the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement. After breaking her T5 vertebrae, she moved to Crofton, MD in December 2024 to be near Robin, her youngest daughter.

Nancy was born in an age when women’s professional options were limited. Her career as a librarian allowed her to indulge in her love of books but it also revealed another side of her. She was a natural leader and a forward thinker. As library director, she oversaw the launch of Memorial Hall Library’s first public access catalog and circulation system and a $5.2 million renovation doubling the size of the library. Nancy was a leader her whole life; turns out Nancy had been honing her leadership skills since she was Tri Y President in high school and President of Bellevue, WA League of Women Voters. She used her leadership skills when she was elected President of Bay Towers Condo Board in Cambridge. It should be noted that she was a life-long Democrat and would never miss watching the Rachel Maddow Show.

Retirement was a true joy for Nancy. Her inquisitive and curious mind propelled her to travel the world from Antarctica to India, to China, Europe, and places in between. Her favorite city was Paris. She made friends wherever she went. When she wasn’t traveling, she was reading; she accumulated over a thousand books. Many of her books were filled with annotations noting her thoughts. Her cookbooks were fascinating; she used them as mere guides and then by taste test she enhanced the recipes and wrote the new ingredients in an illegible script in the margins. Nancy had an insatiable love of learning. Her time at Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement (HILR) was some of the best years of her life. Not only was she an active student but she taught classes on of her favorite subjects Virginia Woolf, Nils Borg, Heisenberg and Oppenheimer.

Her last few years were spent at Youville Place in Cambridge and Brightview Assisted Living in Crofton, MD. She loved her Cambridge apartment and her Youville “inmates” as she called them. Her managerial and leadership instincts rose to the surface as she always had ideas on how to improve the budget, the food, entertainment, the staff; yep, pretty much everything. But it was the friends she made there that made this place so special. She was surrounded by wonderful, bright, curious, and caring people.

Her dear companion and travel partner, Ed Chupp, of 20+ years predeceased her in 2017.

Nancy leaves behind a loving family, her three children Michael Jacobson (Linda), Ann Jacobson Parks (Louis), Robin Jacobson Tarver, her niece Julie Despars Taylor (Ian), her grandchildren Chris Jacobson, Kirsten Hollan, Ryan Tarver, Chelsea Tarver, Kira Parks, Jenna Parks Marino and her great grandchildren Ellie Hollan, Marin Hollan, Jordan Smith, Londyn Rogers, Aiden Parks-Maurizi and Juliette Marino. Also, her great nieces and nephews Kyle Taylor, Chelsey Taylor Fisher and Cody Taylor, and Jill Myers and her family. As well as Emily Chiang, her adoring Chinese daughter. A Celebration of Life is scheduled for March 14, 2026, at 2:00 pm, at Robert Evans Funeral Home in Bowie, Md. Donations can be made to Hospice of the Chesapeake, Pasadena, MD.