Maria Jacobson Obituary

Maria B. Jacobson
Maria Bohm Jacobson, longtime resident of Stamford, Connecticut, died peacefully on September 3, 2024. She was 99 years old.
Born Luise Maria Böhm on May 1, 1925, in Vienna, Austria, Maria was the eldest of three children of Victor C. Bohm and Gertrude Rie Bohm. The family fled their homeland following Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria in 1938. They first settled in England, then emigrated to the United States in 1941, making their home in Poughkeepsie, New York. After completing her secondary education at Oakwood Friends School, Maria attended Vassar College, earning a bachelor's degree with honors in chemistry in 1945. She then pursued graduate study in chemistry at Northwestern University, where she earned her master's degree and completed all doctorate coursework requirements.
While working at the Texas Company (Texaco) Research Laboratories in Beacon, New York, Maria met Ishier Jacobson, a mechanical engineer and U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, who was also employed there. They were married in Poughkeepsie, at Vassar's Alumnae House, on December 18, 1948. Following time in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Brookfield and Danbury, Connecticut, the couple settled in Stamford in 1954, where Ishier pursued a 36-year career at Citizens Utilities Company, and Maria worked for 30 years at the American Machine and Foundry (AMF) research and development laboratory in Springdale.
Maria was a lifelong learner and teacher. She taught chemistry to undergraduate students at Northwestern, Simmons College in Boston, and the University of Connecticut at Stamford, and science and math to public school students in Stamford. Fluent in three languages, she was fortunate to have traveled to six continents. She was also an avid sportswoman. A skier, swimmer, and ice skater since childhood, Maria's true love was tennis. The Jacobsons joined Roxbury Swim and Tennis Club in 1961, and Maria played for decades on the club's tennis teams in the Fairfield County Women's Tennis League. She was the first woman elected to serve as Roxbury's president, in 1982 and 1983. As doubles partners, Maria and her sister won several member-guest titles at their respective tennis clubs over many years. She attended the U.S. Open tennis tournament annually for decades.
Maria's was a life devoted to her family, her friends, and her community. Always one to put the needs of others first, she was an early advocate and active supporter of numerous educational, cultural, humanitarian, and healthcare causes and organizations, both nationally and locally. Maria's broad, beaming smile and selfless compassion will be sorely missed.
Maria was predeceased by her husband of 56 years, Ishier; her sister, Lottie Mackay; and her brother, Henry Bohm. She is survived by her daughter Joanna of Stamford, and grandson Brendan; her son Jonathan and son-in-law James McKibben, of Woodbury, Connecticut; and her daughter Paula of Boston, Massachusetts, and grandchildren Alexander, Jacob, and Rebecca. She also leaves many beloved nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, cousins, and friends.
The Boys & Girls Club of Stamford has established a special fund in honor of Maria's many years of volunteer work and support. In lieu of flowers, contributions in memory of Maria may be made to the Maria B. Jacobson Legacy Fund.