Jeff Jacobs was the Mayor of St. Louis Park, Minnesota from 1999 to 2016. He had been on the St. Louis Park City Council since 1991, serving as an at-large member until April 1999 when he was appointed Mayor when Gail Dorfman was elected Hennepin County Commissioner.
In addition to his work on the Council, Jeff was a member of the Community Education Advisory Council, CEAC, since 1992 and has served as its Chair. He is a past-president of the St. Louis Park Economic Development Authority and has chaired the City Board of Equalization many times. Jeff is a past president of the St. Louis Park Sunrise Rotary Club and is a past member of the St. Louis Park noon Rotary Club where he also served on the Board. He also does many other volunteer activities in the community and in the schools, including being a volunteer Book Nook reader, career day volunteer, Meadowbrook community homework helper and BRAVO music teacher. His wife, Debbie, and his three sons also volunteer hundreds of hours per year on school and community events.
Jeff and his family are deeply committed to the vitality and long-term stability of the community and creating the sort of place where kids are valued, nurtured and trained in the processes they will one day inherit.
From the St. Louis Park Magazine, March 2013:
It’s been said that some people aspire to greatness; others have it thrust upon them. Although my family has a tradition of being involved in community service, I never imagined being elected to public office. I had volunteered for the city’s zoning task force and in 1991, there was a vacancy on the city council; I was appointed to fill the spot. I learned a lot from my mentor, former St. Louis Park Mayor Lyle Hanks. He and Phyllis McQuaid epitomize why anyone should run for office: To be involved and to help people. It’s the St. Louis Park way.
Then in 1999, I was appointed mayor. There have been no memorable election race moments for me, as I’ve run unopposed six times and still also work as an attorney. But I continually aspire to governance over politics—to invest in a process of creating public policy that can be explained to an eighth-grade civics class, to do the little things well.
Jeff Jacobs at St. Louis Park 125 Year Celebration in 2011. Photo by Emory Anderson.
Jacobs decided not to seek re-election in 2015, ending a long run as the face of St. Louis Park.
