Sheila Iris Jacobson

Sheila Iris (Ratoff) Jacobson was born in the Bronx on December 8, 1932. The first grandchild in the family, she attended Hunter College High School graduating a year early before heading off to Queens College, where she majored in education. She became a teacher, married Leo in 1954, and shortly thereafter moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where Leo eventually started a furniture and floor covering business. She taught school during the day and helped Leo build his business in the evenings. Later she worked in the banking industry. She raised three children, Sam, Erica and Janet while working and tirelessly volunteering as Chairman of the Education Committee and in the creation of the Day School at the Jacksonville Jewish Center. She even acted briefly in a community theater and had the role of Yenta the Matchmaker in Fiddler on the Roof. A part she was most suited for. Later in life she was a devoted grandmother to Harry, Teddy, Max and Adam and loved to brag about them to all of her friends. She was an accomplished needle-pointer, and an avid Mah Jong player, as well a voracious reader and piano player. She always liked her steaks “very well done”.

She is survived by her husband Leo, her children Sam, Erica (Neil) and Janet (Marty) and her grandchildren Harry, Teddy, Max and Adam.

In lieu of flowers please make donations to the Jacksonville Jewish Center or the Mayo Clinic Foundation.

A graveside service for Sheila will be held Tuesday, August 5, 2025 at 1:00 PM at New Center Memorial Park Cemetery, 200 E 43rd Street, 43rd and Liberty Street, Jacksonville, FL 32208.