David Clark Jacobsen ’69
David Clark Jacobsen ’69, M.D., of Needham, Massachusetts, died on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2012, from complications of treatments for esophageal cancer first diagnosed in 1996. Dave is survived by his wife, Gabriela; sons Martin, Matias, Christopher and Brian; his mother, Jacqueline; brothers Ken ’71 and Garry ’75; and sister Mardi. Dave graduated from Dartmouth summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. While at the College he was a member of the swim team, Alpha Theta and Casque & Gauntlet. Dave is remembered by friends and fraternity brothers as a compassionate and dedicated man of prodigious intellect. Following Dartmouth he earned his medical degree at the University of Florida and completed his surgical residency at the University of Arizona. In 1991 he joined the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and was also an assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, where his residents voted him Teacher of the Year a number of times. After his 1996 diagnosis Dave went through radical surgeries and devastating complications but he fought back to heightened professional success and insight. His triathlete conditioning and unshakeable resolve extended his life many years. Dave has a lengthy Dartmouth family history, including his grandfather, father, an uncle and his two brothers. In the words of his brother Garry, Dave was an extraordinary man of almost boundless intellect, taken much too soon. He is missed by us all.
