Irwin Jacobs: Using What We Have to Strengthen San Diego County

Episode Transcript
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Crystal Page (00:11):
Hello,Grant

Grant Oliphant (00:12):
Hi, Crystal.

We're back with Stop and Talk today.

We are. And today we have a very special
guest. They're all special, but,today we have a special guest in
Irwin Jacobs, one of theluminaries of San Diego and
probably the brightest shiningstar in the firmament of local
philanthropy.

And as a kid or an adult, you can walk around this
city or this region, and thefamily name is on many, many
buildings, parks, monuments, theshell.

Yeah. I I was just in an event last night that
was held in the the j, which isJoan and Irwin, at the Conrad, a
facility named for the founderof the Prebys Foundation, of
course, Conrad Prebys. But Joanand Irwin's name is all over San

(01:04):
Diego. They have been stunninglythoughtful and generous
philanthropists in this town.And we had the opportunity to
sit down and talk with Irwin andget his perspective on San
Diego, philanthropy writ large,here and elsewhere, and then
some other issues that intersectwith his career interest in

(01:28):
computer science and engineeringand and AI.

And we recorded this and then received some bad
news.

Yeah. Well, I think it's important to
remember, and thank you forbringing that up. It's important
to remember that we recordedthis interview with Irwin. I sat
down with him right, before,Joan passed away. So we're
sharing this, recognizing thatsince this conversation
happened, Irwin did in fact losehis wife, and, and yet their

(02:02):
legacy lives on.
And everything that he talksabout here, I think, is an
incredible tribute to a couplewho have been San Diego's
leading philanthropist for a lotof decades.

I'm excited to hear it. Should we jump in?

Let's do it. Alright. Doctor Irwin Jacobs,
thank you for being here withme.

Irwin Jacobs (02:24):
Pleasure to be with you.

It is, this is a treat, I have to tell you. I
when I when I first came totown, which was 2 years ago now,
one of the first people I got tospeak with, thanks to our mutual
friend and my board member,Peter Ellsworth, was you. And I
I didn't know then that you hadbeen given the title in 2011 by

(02:48):
the San Diego Union Tribune ofbeing philanthropist in chief in
San Diego, but I knew you werethat guy, and what struck me in
that conversation, Irwin, washow, thoughtful and
introspective you were and howkind and generous with your
observations, and I was the newguy on the block, and I just so

(03:09):
appreciated that. And I havelearned I'm not alone in that.
So you model this behavior notjust through your giving, but
through your time, and I I thinkthat deserves to be
acknowledged.

Well, thank you, and I must say I admire the job
that you've done here in afairly short time, so

Well, thank you.

Good to be together.

I I I genuine I really appreciate that. We're
gonna dive into a talk aboutbeing a philanthropist, what
it's like to be a philanthropisthere in San Diego, what the
future of San Diego looks likethrough your eyes, and a host of
related topics, but I would lovefor you to share a little bit
about the road to philanthropythat you took, your journey to

(03:51):
becoming a philanthropist thatyou and Joan, your wife took,
and why it became important toyou in the way it did?

Well, we, started small because, when we were
married, I was still a student,received my PhD at MIT, stayed
on to teach there at about55 hundred dollars a year.

I love it.

And, did some consulting obviously to help pay
for things. Any case, we movedout to San Diego in '66. And was
struck by, you know, thefriendliness of the city, the
beauty of the city, being at abrand new university, UCSD, was
very exciting. Thinking aboutnew curriculum, meetings

(04:40):
faculty, meeting students. Andso it was a life prior to being
in a position to do muchphilanthropy, But we did a
little bit.
We all always had done that allour lives. And actually, I had
benefited from the scholarshipsand fellowships going through
school and graduate school, andso we were very open to

(05:04):
supporting academic activitiesand, obviously, since I had been
a faculty member. And Joan hadbenefited from going to Cornell
as a as a New York Stateresident, which had a special
fee. So we both felt we owedback a little bit.
But it wasn't until we foundedLinkabit, the first company. And

(05:26):
then after several years soldthat company or merged it in
with MACOM, when we firstactually had some more
significant funding. And then webegan to think more carefully
about what we might do. And we,over the time, kind of worked
out a strategy of saying, youknow, which areas that we're

(05:50):
interested in supporting, whichprojects might we support. And
again, it was usually projectswhere we thought we could make a
difference.
And finally, was it goodleadership. And kinda was kind
of our a menu for pickingthings. And about the first

(06:12):
university oriented project wepicked up was, endowing a chair
at UCSD. And that has a funnystory to it as well.

Yeah. I'd love to hear that one.

Yeah. It was, going to be the 1st year. Now
UCSD Public University weren'tsupposed to be competing with
private universities, And sothey didn't really have any
fundraising activity as such.But as the state budgets went
down, they began to think, youknow, perhaps we need to be
doing something. Any case, webumped into Dick Atkinson, who

(06:46):
was chancellor at the time, andmentioned to him that, if they
were interested, we'd be in,interested in endowing a chair,
a faculty chair.
And a few weeks went by and wedidn't hear anything back from
him, and then luckily Joanbumped into Dick in the grocery

(07:07):
store and said, you know, we'resurprised we didn't hear back
from you. And his comment was,were you really serious?

I love that.

So we finally did converge and that was

You had to convince them that you were
serious.

We were serious. Right.

You know, what I love about, so much I love about
those stories, but but, youknow, people people today tend
to think, that of of Irwin andJoan Jacobs fully formed, you
know, signers of the givingpledge, successful. UCSD is this
amazing juggernaut of auniversity, but there there is a

(07:42):
backstory and a youth and a anda time when you weren't thinking
about or couldn't think about,philanthropy, which, probably
felt like a highfalutin word forgiving back in that stage, and
UCSD was was a relatively younguniversity. Was there anything
in your background that made youthink about giving as as an

(08:05):
inherent part of who you were?You know, I I I recently read
Chris Anderson's book calledInfectious Generosity. Chris
Anderson is the founder of,leader of TED, and his his book
is one of the his centralpremise is that human beings are
far more generous than we givethem credit for.
The Internet, despite all thebad things that it's enabling,

(08:27):
is also enabling generosity at alevel that we've never seen, and
there's a bright future if wedecide to lean into it, and he
believes people are inherentlygenerous. Was that something you
thought about growing up or

Well, both Joan's family and my family always had
a little blue box where youcould drop coins in.

Yeah.

And so what brought up with that idea again
was during the depression whenwe were very young and then
World War 2, so funds weresomewhat limited. But there was
always that feeling that oneshould contribute whatever might
be possible for you to do. So wedid have that as a lesson from
our our youth.

It's a, it's I by the way, I hear about that
little blue box a lot from frompeople, and I

Good training.

Yeah. Well, I think sometimes we forget the
value of those symbols and thosethose traditions and practices.
So, you know, I'm I'm curiouswhat you, you know, you have
been you have led this life oftremendous success and
innovation. You you createdthese remarkable businesses. You

(09:39):
eventually went on to sign thegiving pledge, which is a pledge
to give away half of your atleast half of your wealth.
Extraordinary, by the way. Andlet me just say on the on the on
behalf of the rest of us, thankyou. But how do you define
yourself today after after thislifetime of accomplishment? How
do you tend to think ofyourself?

Well, I kind of continue to look forward, you
know, what's interesting in theworld, what

I love that.

And some problems in the world across that one
that needs to deal with. But inthe technology side, so much is
happening That I do try to keepup with it and look for areas
where I might be able to help.

Yeah. So let's let's let's talk then about
since you brought up problems inthe world and opportunities as
well, You know, this was theconversation I had with you in
my our first time meeting, and II asked you then what you
believe are the are the greatopportunities in San Diego, and

(10:43):
then we also talked about thechallenges. But let's start for
a moment with the opportunities.When you since you are a looking
forward guy, even now after allthis accomplishment, what
excites you about the future ofSan Diego?

Well, first and primarily, the growth of the
state colleges, communitycolleges, and of course, UCSD.
So the education is going tohave a primary factor in
building San Diego goingforward. It already has been
doing that to a great extent.When we came, UCSD was just a

(11:24):
few students, and now it's over40,000 students. And those
students, many of them will stayin San Diego and make a
difference.
And the key thing is they'rebeing educated in a university
that's also attuned to research.And so they're going to be very

(11:45):
much up to date with what'shappening and excited about the
possibilities going forward. AndI think that's going to drive
San Diego into a whole new setof ventures, many of which we
just don't even imagine at thispoint.

When you were, and I so appreciate that answer.
And I I have to say coming froma different community, that
energy is palpable when you landhere and spend any time here.
There is just an enthusiasm andan optimism about the future,
and it and it isn't just aboutthe weather. It really seems to

(12:23):
be tied to what's happening inthe, technology and life
sciences sector, and the and theuniversities.

It's actually, I think, something even beyond
that. So many of us came herefrom elsewhere. And so we're new
to the area. We didn't have allthese built in long term
relationships.
We had to make friends. We hadto work with one another and
build together. And so I thinkSan Diegans tend to be much more

(12:52):
open to cooperating. And I thinkyou can see that in the various
institutions and theuniversities and schools. I
think a lot of that does helpguarantee us a very positive
future.

When you think about the role that San Diego
plays on the national front andyou're a national an
international thinker. You'vebeen you've been engaged, beyond
your work in conversations, bothnational and international and
looking at, policy and societalneeds. Do you think that San

(13:33):
Diego is in a place where it canhelp address some of the
challenges that America isfacing and the world is facing?

Well, I think we all have to deal with those
problems. We clearly have a verydivided country at this point in
some sense, where we can'talways have discussions that are
comfortable to both parties. Andso that's an area that we need
to work on. Again, I thinkeducation is key to that. And by

(14:05):
the way, I think also though,caring about empathy, caring
about others in the communitybecause many of us are in a very
fortunate situation, A situationwe would never have imagined
when we were much younger, butwe're in a position to help
others.
But there's lots of ways ofhelping and that just being

(14:26):
friendly with people,communicating with them, giving
some positive responses whenthey have a need or a question.
Again, being empathetic toothers, trying to understand
their needs. I think we do moreand more of that. We will help
solve these problems.

I love that. I love your formulation of that
answer because it it points to avery practical thing that we can
do to help the country bridgeits divides, and that's
education. You acknowledge theproblem, which is the way we're
divided, but then you also go atthe deep human cure, which is
about empathy and connecting.Is, is that why you have been so

(15:10):
active as a funder in the artsas well during your life?

Well, there are a number of reasons for that. One
is between being a faculty andconsulting and starting and
running 2 businesses, life hasalways been very very busy. You
have to concentrate on thebusiness issues at hand, think
about the future, worry aboutthe details of the present, how

(15:35):
you best move forward. And sooccasionally you need a break.
And I've always found thatcultural activities were a
wonderful break for both my wifeand myself and the family. And
so going to theater, visiting amuseum, listening to great
music, listening to jazz, allthese things were very
attractive and provided thatbreak. And I think that's

(15:59):
important for for many of ushaving that opportunity. I also
think that from a corporatepoint of view, it's very
important that first of all,you're able to attract very good
employees, but then be able tokeep them that they're happy
living in the community. Andpeople have various needs.

(16:21):
Some will come here becausethere's a good education system
for their children, others willlook for various cultural
activities. The whole range ofthings that you want to have
very much covered to when you'rein business, keep the employees
happy . And and working, youknow, well together. And so all
of this kinda came together, sosupporting cultural activities

(16:43):
is important. But it'sinteresting looking forward to,
we're in a period of changes inartificial intelligence and
robotics that are going toreally increase productivity, I
believe, greatly over thiscoming decade.
It's just I think alreadybeginning to make a difference,

(17:04):
but these usually take a period.Right. I think the solution then
is that will require fewer workhours. And therefore, more and
more will have some leisure timeto fill. And how do you best
fill that leisure time?
Well, that, of course, willdepend on the person, but some
will want cultural activities,others will want ongoing

(17:27):
education, some will wantvarious things they can do with
their hands and be very creativethemselves. And so you wanna
make sure that a lot of theseother activities are available,
and I think it's gonna becomemore important over this next
decade.

That is, such a big world view. And I wasn't
planning on asking you aboutthis, but I I can't not know.
So, does that transition worryyou at all, the the coming
transition with AI and what youwere describing as a world that
where we need fewer work hoursas you said, which presumably
means fewer workers, or feweropportunities for work. Does

(18:08):
that transition concern you?

Well, first of all, with any new technology,
there's always the fact thatthey could be used for good and
for bad. Right. And so,hopefully, the good outweighs
the bad, but you have to becareful and people are
struggling now. Government isstruggling with how best to
regulate some of these newtechnologies. So that's an
ongoing area where you have tocontinue to pay attention.

(18:33):
On the other side, improvingproductivity just has to be good
for all of us. If being able towork and get enjoyment from the
work and be able to produceservices or goods that others
need, with a little less time ofyour own so you can spend more

(18:54):
with family, spend more on theseother activities, it seems to me
that is positive. And so I lookforward not with dread, but with
the concern that we do have tothink through the economics of
how we handle this. For example,with a greater productivity,

(19:16):
where does that additional,might think of profits, where
will those go? And I think thatbeing more productive will allow
us to put more funds intomedical care for all, into cost
a problem here in San Diego,into housing, maybe in fact with

(19:40):
the AI and the robotics, we'llbe able to build the housing a
little faster even though wecan't make more ground.

That is that is part of the promise, supposedly.
Yeah.

Yeah. And so being able to think constructively
about it, but it seems to meagain that if we deal with this,
that we are increasing ourproductivity, we make sure that
it's shared well, which is notto say everybody has the same
income. There will be clearlyvariations. You work hard in

(20:08):
some area. You come up with agreat thought.
You have a great ability. It'sit that will have a payoff,
obviously. But for most of us,we wanna make sure that
everybody's standard of livingis rising.

Right. I just have to say I, am fascinated by
you're the first person who I'veheard talk about the impact that
AI will have on us on, and whyit is therefore important to
invest more deeply in the arts.And and part of that being that
people will need moreopportunities to pursue creative

(20:47):
pursuits in their downtime in ain an AI world because they'll
have more time for that. And Ijust I think I think that's an
extraordinary vision, so thankyou for putting that on the on
the table. Yeah. By the way,there's also across the creative
areas where people like to workwith their hands either being

(21:08):
able to have some carpentryavailability
Right. Right.

Glass blowing, a whole range of things. And the
fun part is that both at thedowntown Central Library,
perhaps some of the otherregional libraries, and
certainly at the universitiesand colleges, and that there is
facilities being made availablefor others to come in and and
use those. I think that's gonnabecome more and more important

(21:35):
going forward.

I wanted you know, you you brought, you
brought up the the arts lifedowntown, and that's actually
something I wanted to touch on,so I'm just gonna pick up on
that thread. You seem to havehad a a vision I think for the
role of art in civic life inyour giving, and it you know,

(21:57):
you you gave enormously to thesymphony, helped make the the
shell, possible. You have werehave been a key player in making
the new Symphony hallrefurbishment, possible, and
that'll be opening here verysoon, and it's going to be
beautiful.

(22:19):
You you invested in the Museumof Contemporary Arts downtown
building, which now is facing aninteresting new future, but but
you you gave significantly tomake that building and the art
there possible. You clearly hada belief about the role of art

(22:39):
in civic life, and I'm justcurious to hear you talk about
that for a moment. Why was thatimportant to you?

Well, it's interesting. I read a paper not
too long ago that was thinkingabout the differences between
viewing a TVs at home or goingto a movie a movie theater. And
the difference they pointed outwas that on one, you're sharing

(23:08):
with a lot of other people. Andat home, you're getting a lot of
very good entertainment, butit's very limited, just the
local family. And that you needboth in a sense.
Sometimes you have to be outthere with other people,
sometimes you have to be able tokind of enjoy yourself, your own
time schedule. And so havingthese community facilities when

(23:31):
people do wanna go out, is veryimportant. The various museums,
of course, are very educationalas well as being just an very
interesting way to spend sometime, see what other people have
been able to accomplish, how themuseum directors and, put the
various shows together to tokeep them, interesting. I I find

(23:56):
all of that fascinating. We didalso, help, with the new music
society building in San Diego inLa Jolla and

The Conrad.

The Conrad. Yeah. And that and the j by the way,
which is

Yes.

But anyway, the thing that's fascinated me, we
we get to many of the eventsthere as well as events many
other places, but they'relargely full. There's turned out
to be a community need that avariety of different audiences
are taking advantage of. Thesame thing with the Shell. Great

(24:41):
turnouts down at the Shell, butwith the different events, you
see pretty much a very differentaudience. And so it's kind of,
in a sense, rewarding to seethat having these facilities,
making them available, andhelping others to see that
they're being used and enjoyedby so many.

Yeah. I love that. I love that vision, and I
I do have to say that the shellfor me is the most magical venue
I think I've ever seen asymphony play in, even though I
know for purists. You know,you've got the airplane noise
and the fireworks occasionally.But, what an amazingly unique
experience it is.

(25:20):
So, yeah, I think

That goes back about 12 or 13 years ago. Joan
and I went to a lunch at the,conclusion of a off-site board
meet symphony board meeting. Iwas already off the board at
that point. And, listened towhat had been discussed, and
then at the end of the ones Isuggested, well, maybe we ought

(25:45):
to go and talk with the portcommission. Every year we've
been getting it a 1 year use ofthat space, and we have to wreck
the temporary thing and tear itdown and so on.
Go and talk with them, and let'ssee if we can get a long term
lease and then be able to builda facility. And it took a few

(26:06):
years to make that get that evento along to the point where
we're starting raising money anddoing the architecture, but it
did it did happen.

You know, that, thank you so much for sharing
that story because I think it isemblematic of 2 things. 1 is
that in philanthropy, good ideasoften take years years to bring
into being partly because ittakes years years just to have
the conversation, which is whatyou were doing. The second and
this may embarrass you a littlebit, but you're a pretty rare

(26:39):
guy in terms of a corporateleader in America today. You you
are, maybe once upon a time inthe history of our society, it
was very common for corporateleaders in places to be embedded
in place and really care aboutcommunity the way that you have
cared about community. But Iknow that my colleagues around

(27:00):
the country lament how peoplelike you are rarer and rarer in
their communities.
You just articulated a momentago a connection between
business success and thedynamism of the community that
aside from your own personalimpulse to give made it logical

(27:21):
for for the sake of communityand and and your company's
success to do that. Why why doyou well, first of all, do you
accept that proposition? Is thata fair analysis?
And why is it so hard now?

Well, it's interesting that, again, coming
back to personal experience,what helped make decisions, for
my for both Linkabit andQualcomm actually. Linkabit
ended up going public by mergingwith MACOM, back east. So after

(27:55):
that, we were a New York StockExchange company. And I wanted
to continue the charitableactivities, the philanthropic
activities that we had startedand carried on at Linkabit right
along. And I always had ananswer ready for a shareholder
might accuse us of spendingtheir profits on on on

(28:16):
charitable activities.
Actually, no one ever came up tome and it's the same thing with
Qualcomm. No one ever came upand said why you're doing the a
or b or c.

Right.

Charitably through the company. And, the answer of
course again was the one that Isuggested before that it helps
you keep your employees. Losingan employee is the most
expensive thing that can happento a company. And so you wanna
keep them and and and so thatwas the answer I would have
given, but I never ended upbeing challenged on it.

(28:46):
So a lot of shareholdersunderstand, not all of them for
sure Right. Understand thatthat's positive. You've asked
about people that, executivesand companies. And I think a lot
of executives do make theirdonations. Too many might be
concerned about their maritalworth being the dollars in the

(29:10):
bank or the shares

Right.

Representing dollars in the bank. And that
just gets to be, you know,something it it can't make you
happy. It's just the the wrongway to go. So hopefully more and
more people will over timerecognize, particularly when
they're in the position to doso, that doing something like
joining the Giving Pledge is theright thing to be doing, to be

(29:35):
thinking about others and beingable to help, and that gives
much more satisfaction than justabout anything else you can do.

I I, I'm so grateful for that answer, and
from your lips to God's ears.Why why did you sign the Giving
Pledge? What made you feel likethat was the appropriate thing
to do?

Actually, we were involved, I think, with the very
first, dinner. There was one inNew York of a small group of
people, and then one in SanFrancisco with a small group of
people, and Bill Gates hadorganized. And, we went up for
that. We were invited and wentup for that dinner, and we were
all bouncing around ideas of,you know, how might one go

(30:19):
forward with encouraging morephilanthropy, among those that
can afford to do so in a in alarge way.
And, nothing quite firmed up atthat meeting, but there was a
lot of good discussion. And thenI think it took about 3 or 4
months. They must have had a lotmore meetings and discussions as

(30:40):
they came up with the givingpledge idea where you would
pledge to give away at leasthalf of your estate before or
after death. Right. Tophilanthropic causes.
And, no, you don't, you signthat pledge, but nobody checks

(31:01):
up on you or anything else. Theydo have, meetings at least
annually that, I've gone to acouple, one was here in San
Diego actually, but I I don'ttend to go because I I have my
own thinking about my ourphilanthropy, Joan and I. And

(31:21):
so, I don't really need otherthoughts and hints. But I it's a
useful thing to be doing. Butthe most useful thing that the
Giving Pledge does is they havegroups of children and
grandchildren get together andtalk among themselves how they
might be more philanthropic.

(31:42):
They've been brought up in veryfavorable circumstances. And
what should they be thinkingabout? What might each one have
in mind for a useful way fortheir philanthropy to occur.
That was interesting actually inour family because I think was
just before, the pandemic hit. Acouple of our grandchildren,

(32:09):
came up to Joan and myself andsaid, could we arrange a weekend
where we can just get togetherand you can discuss your
philanthropy and we can discussour ideas.
And, we did. We set up a RanchoValencia weekend, and they said
no parents, just, thegrandchildren.

Oh, really?

It was interesting. And so we did that.
We invited a few, concerns, thefood bank and others. 2nd chance
I think came by, to talk about,some philanthropy we've had. We
went through it and where we'vebeen mostly giving, why it's and
talk and then they came up withtheir own ideas.
And so both between theirgetting involved with ourselves,

(32:53):
but then with the giving pledge,I think has been also very
illuminating for our own family.

I I, thank I love that story. And you you set
the table, but you were notinvited to to the to the
conversation. I, I'm curious.Well, I have to say, your eyes
absolutely lit up when youmentioned your children and your
grandchildren, and it's, itprobably is audible in your

(33:20):
voice as well. You're justclearly giving this to the next
generation and continuing thesevalues of giving clearly matters
to you.
I think that's part of what whatI'm hopefully helping to do for
San Diego through the PrebysFoundation that we can also
encourage that same spirit, inin the work that we do. In so

(33:42):
many ways, Irwin, I'm just gonnasay I I feel like I'm I'm
studying at the feet of themaster, because for every idea
I'm I'm coming across, you'vealready been there. And one of
them is impact investing, whichis the idea that we should use
our the full range of ourassets, not just the money we

(34:02):
give away every year, but theinvestments that we make to
actually try and drive positivechange in the community as well.
You have been doing that andexploring that, and I'm just
curious what got you intothinking about that as part of
your portfolio of good?

Well again, there are a lot of problems in the
world And clearly the mostcritical one is the climate. And
so that's an area that we havebeen interested in and that's
both philanthropic and politicalof course, but that's something
that our children and ourgrandchildren are going to be

(34:41):
living with. And so it issomething we need to be
concerned about.
We need to worry about. We needto look for ways of improving.
Part of that can be how weinvest. Mhmm. But probably a lot
more is being active supportinggroups that are out working on
various types of solutions.

(35:03):
We just have to recognize thatit is a crisis, for for the
whole world. And many peoplearound the world are already
beginning to suffer because ofdroughts that are occurring,
because of weather problems.Mhmm. It's just something we
really do have to focus on.

What what's your advice to, future
philanthropists, including yourown kids and grandchildren about
engaging with complicated issueslike that? They, you know, they
cross over into politics andpolicy. They're generational.
They're clearly not going to besolved overnight, and yet

(35:43):
they're the most importantthings we can do. How do you
help people think about that?

Well, I think you find the children, and
particularly the grandchildrenthese days, that's top on their
mind.

Right.

How can they they do have some funds to invest.
How can they best do that? Andthey come up with a whole range
of different areas that Joan andI have never really even
considered. Actually, right nowwe do mostly passive investing
other than when startup comes tous and said, how do I become the
next Qualcomm? And so we talkand then possibly make

You have some advice to give them. Yeah.
Right.

And so it's it's something I don't think in that
case the children learn, thegrandchildren learn from us. I
think they picked it up fromtheir compatriots.

Yeah. Yeah. What what for you has been I wanna
tap into that joy for a momentthat you carry when you talk
about talking with other peopleand your kids in particular
about philanthropy. What hasbeen your most satisfying gift
or contribution? You'vementioned a lot of them, the the

(36:50):
Shell, the the gifts to UCSD,and to education more broadly,
and I should probably stoplisting them since you know the
list better than I do.
But I'm just curious, which onewhen you reflect back has given
you the most satisfaction?

Probably, scholarships and fellowships for
college students. There are alot I mean, it's also like
someone at our home will askwhat piece of art is your
favorite and I always say it'sthe one you're standing in front
of you at any given time.

You did that to me, I think, when
you gave me a tour

Yeah. Of course. Yes.

So the I mean, the question the question really
is is there is there yeah. It islike asking you to name your
favorite child, isn't it?
But but what is what steps outfor you as, sort of especially
special in the work that you've

been able able to do. We have a large number of
scholarships and fellowships atUCSD, at Cornell, at MIT, and at
the Technion, back in, Israel.And so we often get a chance to
meet with the students thatcurrently are receiving the

(38:01):
scholarships and sometimes withthe students that are a few
years out and hear about howthey Benefited and what they've
done with those benefits, sincethey graduated. And so that's
that is very, it gives one avery, very positive feeling.
But we also, interestingly I wasborn in New Bedford,
Massachusetts.

The whaling, Portuguese whaling community.
Yes.

Exactly, exactly. So we support the whaling museum
and other things. But, we alsogive out it's a very poor city.

Yeah.

It used to be the richest city per capita in the
country in the whaling days.

Yes.

But it's very poor city now. And, one with a low
level of graduates of highereducation. And so we go back and
we do give out scholarships, inNew Bedford and hear back from
others, in New Bedford about howthey're they're proceeding with
them. So it's it's thoseexperiences hearing back from

(38:57):
the students, hearing back, fromthe parents as well, from former
students. Hearing thoseexperiences are the ones that I
find very rewarding.

So even more than the, the buildings that
you'll leave, but that thatyou've helped create, it's those
changed lives that that appear

To change lives, but the buildings are also then
to help change lives. Yeah.Yeah. And there's always this
question of bricks and mortarversus other programs

Right.

Other programs. And we have been involved with a
lot of bricks and mortar.

And Extraordinary, my god. Yeah.

Yeah. Putting one's name with that is always a
question. And we've optednormally if the organization
thinks it's helpful to them togo ahead and include, you know,
use our names. And it's because,hopefully, to encourage others
that they think aboutphilanthropy as well, what they

(39:56):
can do. For example, if you goover, to the health center from
UCSD on the east side of 5,several of those buildings are
named for former Qualcomm peopleYes.
Which is which is interesting.And I think again that was
somewhat because we becameevolved and another became
evolved.

Well, and it's it's funny because I think there
is this whole debate in oursociety right now about the role
of philanthropy, and and thereare people who would argue that
gifts like that shouldn't benamed, and I think they totally
miss the point that you justmade that it does create an
inspiration for others to followsuit, and I know it, you know,

(40:40):
when you walk into the buildingof with the name on it of
somebody you know, there'sthere's something kind of
personal and familial aboutthat, even if you're not the
one, as I'm not, giving thegiving the money away.

Oh, come to think of it, you just gave me a a a
thought walking into a building.If you walk into the Jacobs
Medical Center at UCSD, you'llcome across by its, west side
door. Yeah. You'll come across agreat big party hat. And it's a

(41:15):
very joyful symbol to help forpeople coming into the hospital,
but also even for the maternitysuites when the parents are
carrying out a baby, they oftentake a picture by that party
hat.
The party hat has an interestingstory with it as well.
Everything has an interestingstory. Yeah. But we saw a

(41:36):
picture of that, it's a JeffKoons sculpture.

Right.

A picture of that many many years ago when we're
visiting in Basel, Switzerland.And, we decided at that point to
buy it, put down deposit, pay itoff for a few years. It took 15
years for that to be finished.

15 years?

15 years we're waiting.

Your process with the Shell and the Port
Authority was faster.

Even. So they were, we often had offers, you
know, I will buy back your piecein some major. But in any case,
it finally came in 15 years. Itwas delayed another almost year
because that was during thepandemic.

Of course.

And people had to come from technicians from
Germany to get into thiscountry, which they did through
Tijuana, finally, to be able toinstall it. And but we finally
did get that all to happen. Andwe in thinking about it, decided
that we would enjoy it if we hadit in a a more local location,

(42:44):
but there a lot more people aregoing to be able to enjoy it. So
again, when we walk in to lookat it, it still gives us a great
smile, but again, greatsatisfaction.

It actually is such a it's a beautiful use of
art actually because it's, it'sin a place where it's needed.

Mhmm.

And, can communicate so much. So I I love
that story. Thank you for thatbackground. The the the story
you shared about thescholarships is interesting
because just staying on thistheme of weird pushback we get,
in philanthropy. One of thecriticisms we hear sometimes in
in the world today is thatgiving to, institutions of

(43:24):
higher ed and alma maters is insome ways, missing the real
societal need, or self serving.
And I I think your example ofthe scholarships actually points
to an opportunity to educatepeople about why this type of
giving is also important. So canyou just explain the function of

(43:47):
these scholarships and who andfellowships and who gets them?

Well, again, I think part of that is is the
example you're setting. Yeah.But by giving scholarships and
fellowships, and as I mentioned,both Joan and I benefited from
support. Yeah. Although weworked right through schools
Right.
Right. As well, which I think isalso important. But we did

(44:11):
benefit from those. And the hopeis that people that receive them
will in their future, some willbe very successful, will be in a
position themselves to giveback. And so you wanna have that
very positive feedback wheresome of the people many
benefits, some succeedfinancially and can themselves

(44:34):
give back, and I think that's agood example to give.

I don't mean to put you on the spot, but do you
have a favorite story of someonewho has, benefited from one of
your scholarships?

Well, there are a few in New Bedford that, went on
to medical school and came backto New Bedford to practice
medicine in New Bedford. Andthen there's another young woman
who then was able to after shegraduated, I think was Harvard.
No. I'm sorry. It was adifferent school, but went on to

(45:07):
Harvard Business School.
And then she with her sistercame up with a business that we
did invest in as well, providinga package on a monthly basis to
be mail mail bought bygrandparents normally to go to
their grandchildren to give themsomething scientific to think

(45:27):
about or something creative tothink about. That was a great
program.

Being a grandfather now myself, I think
that would be really useful.Right. I, I'd what are you what
are you seeing in thephilanthropic landscape in San
Diego today? When you lookaround our community, and you've
been you've been thephilanthropist in in chief.

Well San Diego in a sense benefits from many
people moving here fromelsewhere, but that's also a
problem. Because often when yougo to raise funds, people say,
well, I gave back to my hometownthinking where they used to live
Right. Rather now thinking ofSan Diego. So it takes a while

(46:13):
for perhaps people to beconverted over.
I think the fact that more andmore people begin to live
downtown and in the near suburbsas opposed to further out, will
help even establish that senseof philanthropic community and
build. But that's something thatprobably has its ebbs and flows,

(46:36):
and I think we might be in a,now, but this phone. And so,
right, it's something we have tocontinue to talk up and
hopefully, again, as with withyour children, grandchildren,
you don't lecture them on whatthey should be doing or lecture
anybody else, you have to do itby example. Yeah. And so

(46:59):
hopefully these these exampleswill over time pay off.

I think that is such a powerful and important
point that it's, all the all ofthe people out, in the larger
world trying to lecture othersinto giving, or into giving a
certain way. That's not going towork. I do know the dynamic

(47:23):
you're describing of San Diegohaving a lot of wealth in the
community, extraordinary wealthactually, it it does suffer
from, in many cases, beingvested in people who are from
other places. And I know when Iwas the president of the
Pittsburgh Foundation many,many, many moons ago, One of my
favorite things to do was maketrips to places like San Diego

(47:46):
and down in Florida to find thefolks who are from Pittsburgh
whose money I wanted to bringhome. So and there's a lot of
that that goes on, and I knowthe people doing it, in fact.
But San Diego, I do think whatI'm seeing is more and more
interest in giving here, andthat, you know, it's still very
individual based on individualideas and needs, which is as

(48:09):
you'd expect, but it does seemto be a growing interest in
giving here.

No. Isn't one interesting thing is we know
there's tremendous needs, forfood, for homes, for housing.
And I was speaking with the foodbank, executive a few days ago,
and, of course, the needs havegone way up. The their expenses

(48:34):
for food, and, number ofvolunteers needed, etcetera, all
that's gone up, very much, butthe funds have been coming in.
And so their budget is still inreasonably good don't take don't
let this stop you from No.
No. No. No. No. No.
No. Of course not. No. Of coursenot.

Or anybody listening.

Right. But it's it's been very beneficial and
that people are recognizing thatneed and responding because food
is such an important aspect. Weall understand you need food.
Actually, another aspect that Ihadn't thought about, but I keep
getting educated every time I goover there, is diapers. That

(49:15):
there's a need for people to beable to get diapers and they
ought to able to be able to goout to work.
And so that's been somewhat, Ibelieve, state funded for a
period, and now the state fundsare going away. And so we're
gonna need others to step up andhelp with the diaper fund.

It really is. You know, we think of these
things as basic needs, and andthey are basic needs, but
without them, it's impossiblefor people to function. You
know, kids going to schoolhungry, can't learn.

Mhmm.

Parents trying to work hungry, really can't be
productive, and

Yeah. I love these backpack programs.

I do too.

Where the kids get the food and be able to have
them for a week, and now theyworry about the weekends.

Yes. You said something about, about the
criteria that you and Joanlooked for when you were first
giving, and one of them was goodleadership. And I I just would
like you to repeat what youthink is important. And when
you're looking at organizationstoday, aside from good

(50:18):
leadership, what are you lookingfor? And in terms of good
leadership, what do you mean?
Well, we go you need somebodythat you you're going to fund
the project, for example.Somebody has to have thought
through that project, know wherethey would like to take that if
they had the funds to be able tomove ahead and show the
excitement, be able to haveothers that are going to be able

(50:42):
to help them with that. And sowe look for that kind of
leadership, you don't want togive some funds and watch them
get, you know, misused in asense, not not really
accomplished. And that has know,as much as one looks ahead,
there are cases where the fundshave not really been used as
effectively as they might be,but you keep learning from those

(51:04):
cases. So finding leaders thatare excited about the project,
that have thought through theproject, are able to go forward
if perhaps they can get you toprovide that extra little help
and push.

That's what we're looking for.

You've recently, given a grant, there's so many
individual grants that I wannaask you about in areas of
giving, but you recently havegiven a grant to support the
democracy work being undertakenby KPBS, and, and and also by
the Voice of San Diego, NINewsource. What's your thinking

(51:44):
there? Because democracy is isone of those issues. It's a it's
a hot button issue in oursociety. A lot's at stake, feels
like in this moment.
What made you decide to wadeinto that space?

Well, first of all, we've talked about
education being so important tohelp all of our citizens be able
to come come together with somecommon understandings. Well, I
think that the press and the TVprograms, KPBS, are also very
important to be able to get outand cover local news, get that

(52:20):
information out, make thatavailable. And so we supported
KBBS pretty much ever since wecame out here in a variety of
different ways. In fact, as webegan to see the need, they and
they saw the need and we we weagreed for sure that, reporters
weren't only going to be paypencil and pad reporters, but

(52:43):
they had to be able to dorecordings, interviews, TVs,
photography, go on various typesof presentations, cover the a
large number of differentprofessional areas. And so we
supported fellowships for anumber of years at KPBS to train
people, not just to stay atKPBS.

(53:04):
Many of them went out to other,public, TV, programs or radio
programs. And so that was onearea that we could see would
have a payoff.

Yeah.

Now again, they're thinking of how do we go ahead
and improve this whole feelingof democracy and that and right
now we have several availablesources of news, 1 print, a few
print, but more, on theInternet. And how do they more

(53:41):
cooperate together? How do theymore make better use of their
limited resources?

Mhmm.

And so part of this effort is to in fact find
better ways of making use of thelimited resources to do a better
job for all of us.

I love that idea. And there's there's so
much of that work that I thinkneeds to be done around weaving
together disparate groups, andideas, and work streams into
more of a coherent whole to helpbenefit, the issue that we're
we're talking about. You know,on a very large level, the, the

(54:16):
there's this effort underway todo a similar thing, in knitting
together conceptions of ourculture and art in San in the
San Diego and Tijuana regionthrough the World Design
Capital, and we recently,through the Prebys Foundation,
supported that, that effort. Howdo you think about the broader

(54:37):
landscape of Tijuana and SanDiego, and and how that comes
into play for your philanthropy?

It's an important area, and I'm very pleased that
the university does help in thatregard and help provide
education. But I must say thatwe've only been down to Tijuana
2 or 3 times in the last dozenyears. I mean, we used to go
very frequently. Well, we takeour sons down for a haircut. We

(55:08):
go down to buy rolls.

It's a different era.

A different era. When you could get through the
border more rapidly. Now it'sjust so terribly slow. So the
symphony has gone down there andplayed and we certainly support
that. They're very importantarea.
There are various groups whowork across the border, some of
which, we continue to support.But scenario that that needs to

(55:34):
be further improved. WithQualcomm, I very much looked at
whether we could do some of ourmanufacturing, the McIladores,
down in

Right.

Mexico. I thought that would be very important. I
think some of that is happeningat this point. But the problem
always was with both the bordercrossings and with, safety
issues that it would be hard to,for example, get the engineers
to easily go down if there's aproblem in production, and when
they're being if they'resomewhat separate, to be able to

(56:12):
heal those kind of problemsquickly, which you often have to
do. And so at that time, wedidn't make that move to
McIlodora, but I think that isvery important going forward
that we do have, support.
I mean, they're our nearneighbor. They're very
important, to us, and we couldvery much enjoy them, as we

(56:35):
could get across the border

Right. Right.

This whole border situation is just such a mess,
the whole immigration. The factthat we couldn't put more money
into providing more people tosupport border crossings,
unfortunately, that failed inthe senate, not too long ago,
where more funding could havemade a significant difference.
We need a better immigrationpolicy. We more need to have

(57:02):
more immigrants. There's alittle bit of feeling.
I mentioned that, you know, oureconomy is doing better. It's
partly because of technology.It's probably because of
immigrants that have been comingacross and and, and working
here. And, we need more of that.A lot of us are at best second
generation.

(57:22):
And so we go back to immigrantsourselves. And it's just very
important that we'd be much moreopen about that to, you know,
people say open borders. Well,nobody's talking about, you
know, just wander across theborder as if it's not there, but
allowing legally more people tocome across.

Yeah. Yeah. It has always been such an
important, part of the engine ofAmerican creativity.

Mhmm.

I figured you would have an expansive view of
that one, so thank you. Beforewe wrap up, you know, I I one of
the things that I think it'shard for philanthropists to talk
about is the ones that got away,the things that didn't work. As
you reflect on your giving overthe years, is there is is there
any story that sort of for youdefines a moment where something

(58:09):
you tried to do didn't work?

Oh, the main most famous one, and I know you're
involved with Balboa Park.

I I am. Yes. We are.

Is is Balboa Park. We tried to build a road off and
a bridge so that when you comeinto Balboa Park just before you
get to the museum of us, I thinkthat's the right term now. You
would make a right turn goingsouth and curve around a bridge

(58:39):
that would take you into anexisting parking lot, which by
the way would level off so thatit could accommodate handicap,
which it's got too much of aslope now to have very many
handicap parking. And then gounder the road that leads down
from the Oregon Pavilion downtoward the, Aerospace Museum and

(59:00):
into a three level undergroundparking garage the roof of which
was going to be flush with theground level at behind the
Oregon Pavilion and sloping alittle bit down, to the, I
forget the name of it, but tothe Aerospace Museum.

(59:20):
And provide a large picnicground which it doesn't exist,
it would be just a whole bigplanted area exists and
completely clear out the area infront of Museum of Man of Us, in
front of the art museum,etcetera, and give us that much
more space without cars andfurther be able to walk down the

(59:42):
road between the Plaza of Panamaand the aerospace area and and
the new museums that are thereactually, without having to
worry about cars. It would justbe a wide way with with the end,
the international homes housesall being on the right side
easily reached now. And it wouldmake such a huge difference.

(01:00:05):
Unfortunately, for someenvironmentalist decided that
wasn't a good answer. Theywanted to build a road going
north, rather than south andcurve all the way around
anyways, and they came up with alawsuit.
Eventually, took care of thosethose got out of the way, but by
that time, of course, the costhad gone up, the city council

(01:00:27):
put a max on the cost, and eventhough much of it was
philanthropic, but they stillhad a max and that that ended
the project.

Grant Oliphant (01:00:35):
Yeah. I, thank you for sharing that story. It
is, I've I've read the plan, andI've read the history of it. I
actually think it was anextraordinary vision visionary
plan, and it would have utterlytransformed the Balboa Park
experience in a way that wouldhave met many of the needs that

(01:00:56):
people continue to complainabout to this day, including for
parking and for more of a safepedestrian experience and more
of a of a transcendentexperience walking through the
plaza, and yes, meeting theneeds of of, the handicapped
users and so on and so on and soon. And in my opinion, you got

(01:01:21):
badly used in that in the in inyour in your treatment in there.
And I what I have to say is,first of all, I admire your
persistence and that you thatyou made the case and that you
engaged. And we all have thesemoments where big projects go
awry because other people seethe world differently, and

(01:01:43):
that's just the way it is. And Iyou know, it's part of what you
accept when you're doing socialchange work all the time. What
you don't often see in anindividual donor like yourself
is, and they continue givinganyway. So what was the what was
the thing in you that I mean,what happened for you after that

(01:02:04):
particular episode where youjust decided, okay.
I'm gonna keep on giving and andcontributing to the community in
other ways? Because a lot ofother people in that, having had
that experience, would'vewithdrawn and and possibly even
left.

Irwin Jacobs (01:02:18):
Yeah. Well, we got caught up actually in an out of
San Diego, philanthropicactivity. Bloomberg, who was
mayor of New York at that time,had come up with the idea of
providing land and a$100,000,000 to encourage a
university or some universitiesto build a new campus on this

(01:02:40):
donated land that would focus onone thing helping educate k
twelve education, pre k thesedays, education, but also start
up businesses, in New York. Soit would broaden the business
space in New York. Everybodythought Stanford was going to
win because of the focus onstartups and Silicon Valley

(01:03:02):
being so successful.
But we helped get Cornell andTechnion together. Technion, you
know, part of the signed upnation issue and Cornell
obviously being a majoruniversity in New York State,
but not have having a med schoolin New York City, but not having
a real presence otherwise in NewYork City to be getting a

(01:03:26):
presence which would benefitmany people. And so we did help,
get that started and made adonation. So now if you go to
it's on Roosevelt, Iowa, and yougo there, you're going to see
some great it's about a halfbuilt or so at this point, pause
and then there'll be another potbuilt. A set of beautiful

(01:03:48):
buildings and very active,campus life, and students have
already started, I don't know,well over a 100 businesses in
the New York area.

Wow. So, coming back to San Diego, what what
excites you most today aboutwhat you see happening here that
you're eager to continue tosupporting philanthropically. I
mean, you you described yourselfat the beginning of our
interview as and I loved how youframed this. I was trying to

(01:04:23):
take you to a place ofreflection, and you took me to a
place of looking ahead. And itfeels like we should end there
as well.
You know, as we as we lookahead, what should people in San
Diego be excited about about,thinking more deeply about?

Well, I'm very much a believer in urban
planning

Yeah.

And in architecture. I often say if I
have a second coming, it will beas an architect because that's
such an exciting area.

Yeah.

And San Diego has not done the best job on its
architecture. We know there'svarious problems. I know you're
looking into some of theseproblems.

In the civic center. That's right.

In the city and Yeah. But also privately, we're
going through a period now wherethere's a lot of work at home,
empty office buildings. I justsaw where Symphony Towers is up
for sale which really amazed me.And so things are changing.
Change is not necessarily bad.
Change gives you opportunity todo better things. And so what

(01:05:28):
I'm hoping is that we takeadvantage of the changes that
are occurring in our downtownarea to allow us to have a more
exciting urban's layout, use ofthe, the cityscape, more
convenient local transportation.I know that the motor scooters
and the motor bicycle and so onhave their problems and people

(01:05:51):
complain where we set asidebicycle lanes, but that's where
we really have to be going. And,of course, if we look ahead,
people have predicted much tooearly that we're gonna have
autonomous vehicles that willmake a significant difference,
but that's gonna happen. So wewon't need as much parking
spaces, etcetera.
We'll still need the streets forthe cars to get over. Some of

(01:06:13):
the streets for the cars to getaround, but we have more very
nice pedestrian areas. So I'mjust looking ahead for San Diego
to use this opportunity toreally do a wonderful job of
making us a great city center.

That is that is such music to my ears. I think
that is you've just beautifullydescribed one of the great
opportunities, that that SanDiego has in front of it. You
know, when I was on my morningwalk or when I I was listening
to an interview with, one of myfavorite poets, David White, and
he was he was talking about howsometimes in life we have to hit

(01:06:51):
the reset button and a a processthat he goes through to to, to
do that and think more broadlyabout what life offers. And his
first step was to stop whateverconversation you're in, and that
means, you know, theconversation we have with
ourselves about our limitationsand our the the the things that

(01:07:13):
we're capable of and so forth.So stop whatever conversation
you're in so that you can drinkfrom a deeper well.
And I just have to say, when Ilook at your philanthropy and
what you just said, it is whatyou just said is a beautiful
example of how San Diego is alovely, wonderful, amazing

(01:07:33):
place, and it can be drinkingfrom a deeper well in the next
iteration of what it wants tobe. Thank you for making that a
hallmark of your philanthropy.This has been a joy to speak
with you, and I reallyappreciate you being here.

Thank you very much. And we both can look
forward, I think, to an everimproving San Diego.

Alright, Crystal. That was something.

Crystal Page (01:08:03):
Absolutely. I I think when you see a name but
you have never had a chance tohear from the individual, it's
it's very inspiring. So to me, Ithink the first takeaway was
really, how he's made a practiceof philanthropy in his life.

Yeah. I I I love the various ways in which he
talked about that. And early onwe talked about where his
philanthropy came from, and Ithought it was really
interesting, you know, hereflected on how both he and
Joan had the little box at homewhere they collected change to
the family collected change toto give away, to various

(01:08:44):
charitable causes, and thatimplanted for each of them the
idea of being philanthropic. Andthen, of course, as they grew
into adults and got married andmoved to San Diego, that took on
a deeper and deeper form andwould, over the ensuing decades,
become the full blownphilanthropy that we see around
town and actually around thecountry today. I I love the the

(01:09:09):
original scholarship story thathe shared of of because they he
in particular had benefited fromscholarships and fellowships in
in his road to being a verysuccessful entrepreneur.
He wanted to share that largessewith others, and made that offer

(01:09:30):
to the then chancellor of UCSDwho didn't think he was serious.
And it took Joan, I think,accosting him in a supermarket
for for him to believe that, oh,this is a real offer. It is a
it's a great story of aphilanthropic career just
beginning.

I think what's relatable in that story or in
that journey is Irwin and Joanwere aware of what took them

Yeah.

What opened doors for them, right, on their
journey. So they're turningaround and trying to make sure
those doors stay open for otherpeople, and it's a good reminder
even with my $20 or my $100,whatever it is, like, how do I
turn around and share that withother people to have the same
opportunity? So I found thatinspiring and also, incredibly
self aware on their part.

I thank you for for putting that that way
because I think you've justmaybe hit the the real genius of
this interview, which is thatIrwin modeled through that
interview, a set of principlesthat I think any good
philanthropist would wannafollow, but he never lectured us

(01:10:44):
about how it's done. And,basically, what he modeled was
that, he and Joan thought aboutwhat they wanted to accomplish.
They got in touch with their ownvalues and what was important to
them, and then they thoughtabout how they could further
that through their philanthropy,and then they spoke with people.
And then when they wanted toencourage their children and

(01:11:07):
their grandchildren to engage inphilanthropy, they spoke with
them, and they let them askquestions, and they had
conversations about whatphilanthropy could do and what
they all could individually andcollectively accomplish. There's
just so much thought that hasgone into, how the Jacobs have
approached philanthropy in SanDiego, and I I think it's a

(01:11:29):
wonderful model for for otherpeople who care about
philanthropy even if, as yousaid, what you're thinking about
is $20 as opposed to the untoldamounts that they've shared.

Absolutely. I also really appreciated because I've
heard people say Irwin it'sIrwin and Joan. Right? So there
is clearly a giving based onthem as a couple, but in
relationship, and it's onedoesn't happen without the
other. So I also just reallyappreciate that they see
themselves as a unit here in SanDiego, and I imagine that

(01:12:05):
there's a strength in themworking together in that way.

Well, I think I I I think it's obvious just in
how Irwin spoke about it thatfor him, it was always a
partnership in philanthropy withJoan. And yes, they modeled it
together, they their namesappeared together, that was an
important signal that they weresending the community and and

(01:12:29):
value for themselves. I I also,I think, need to acknowledge
that they were, eachindividuals, and Irwin is clear
when he's speaking for himself,and then when the philanthropy
is speaking for the 2 of them.And I my heart my heart goes out

(01:12:50):
to him, in the wake of Joan'sloss. But what I what I think we
saw in this interview is alegacy that will endure for
many, many, many years decadesto come, precisely because it's
so rooted in their love andconnection and their values.

A 100%. I think, you know, we have my spouse and
I have season tickets to the theShell, the Rady Jacobs Shell,
and that alone was such a hugegift to San Diego, and I'm
grateful that their names are onit because a place that was
just, you know, temporary attimes now is something that we
all can come together and enjoy.And I I feel like they've given

(01:13:34):
so much, And yet at the sametime, we heard Irwin talk about
when he needs a break, he wantsto go experience the arts or
culture or hang out with familyand friends, and and that's all
very relatable.

Right. Well, I think, you know, one that by the
way, the fact that their namesappear in so many places was
part of the conversation, andthat was part that I I really
found value in, because theyclearly Irwin has taken a very
thoughtful approach to that aswell. You know, what he
mentioned in our interview wasthat the the matter of putting

(01:14:08):
their name on something wasalways a subject of
conversation. And what theylooked for was guidance from the
organization they were fundingas to whether or not that would
be helpful. And and I I sensedfrom him that there were times
when he didn't want to do that,but where he allowed himself to

(01:14:28):
be persuaded to do it anywaybecause the organization that,
that he was funding really madethe case that having Irwin and
Joan's name on their projectwould make a huge difference.
Now people may wonder how thatworks, but it works really
simply. Just think about theGood Housekeeping seal of

(01:14:49):
approval. I don't think GoodHousekeeping exists anymore, but
the but the idea of a seal ofapproval of some, you know, of
some, mark that says this is aworthy project, Irwin and Jones'
name on a project conveyed that.And so they're I think they were
very thoughtful about choosingwhen they would do that.

Yeah. I know, they're giving to the Salk
Institute, for example. It seemslike they were able to
accelerate giving by puttingtheir name on it, offering that
fund. It just invites otherpeople in. Like you said, they
know that this is somethingworthy of investment.
Also, you know, for those of uswho know less, it's just like a
huge validator, you know. Thethis thing matters or, you know,

(01:15:38):
this is something we all need toput our resources behind in the
region.

So Well and I I when you when you start studying
philanthropy on a regional leveland you look at people who care
about a place, and this entireconversation with Irwin just
underscored how much he caresabout this place. What you
discover is they are pulled inmany directions. I remember my

(01:16:02):
very first conversation when Icame to town with Irwin, and I
and I asked him, what are thepassion projects for you right
now? And he mentioned 2 in thatcase. 1 was the Salk Institute,
just what you said, and theother was the symphony, and
working with the San DiegoSymphony on completing now that

(01:16:25):
The Shell was built, it's, it'sDowntown Symphony Hall and the
renovation of that of that site.
And these were hugely importantprojects for him, But what I
discovered in the ensuing yearsand talking with them, coming
across his name in communityprojects, and then of course in
this interview, is he had many,many interests in this town. He

(01:16:48):
had an interest in the fate ofour democracy and how to
preserve democratic dialogue.He, has an interest in the media
and how we get our news and howwe continue to get our news in
an era when community news isreally struggling. We have we
have seen his name connectedwith all kinds of projects in

(01:17:12):
the arts, because he cares somuch about the arts as part of a
vital society. The thing thatmaybe people in San Diego paid
less attention to is how much hecares about education and
scholarships and fellowships andopening doorways of opportunity
to young people who otherwisemight not be able to gain

(01:17:32):
access.
That's been part of of how hedefines his philanthropic
journey. So there's a lot there,and it's not all always apparent
on those big, you know, the bignaming projects that people
associate with them. And I thinkwhat I the reason I say that is
I think Irwin really exemplifiesfor San Diegans a model of being

(01:17:56):
engaged in community across awide range of interests and
working to make a difference ina number of different things.

I took that away as well when he discussed, you
had asked about thebillionaire's pledge. Mhmm.

The giving pledge.

The giving pledge. Thank you.

But we'll go with the billionaire's pledge.

Wow. The giving pledge and the idea that, you
know, it was just something heopted into because he felt it
was important, but he didn'tfeel the need to broadcast. It
was just something, yes. Thismade sense. At the same time, he
has national or global leaderscoming to his home or coming to
San Diego to meet with.
And he's you're right. He's nottrying to put his name on all
those things. That's just a partof him being a leader in our

(01:18:39):
community. I may not know thathe did all those things, but I I
certainly benefit from himchoosing to do those things in
the way he did or the way hedoes in San Diego.

Yeah. No question. I actually loved his,
his discussion about the givingpledge because it is it is no
surprise that he was, in on theground floor as it were in the
launch of the giving pledge andand committing to that because
he really, really models abelief that it's important to

(01:19:12):
give back and to give backsubstantially to the community
and country that he's a part of.He wants to do it thoughtfully.
He wants to do it smartly, andhe, you know, he we had a good
discussion actually aboutfailure and what it looks like
when things don't work out, And,clearly, that's not his or

(01:19:35):
anybody else's favorite subject,but he recognized that as part
of the risk you take when youengage in giving.
But what was clear to him isit's part of his family value
and Joan's family value thatthat giving is part of who they
are. You know, I love the storyas I know you did about the the

(01:19:57):
grandchildren asking for afamily meeting in which the the
parents and grandparentscouldn't be present to talk
about what their philanthropywould look like. And what's you
know, that value came fromsomewhere, and it came from,
Irwin and Joan ultimately, andthen their their children
conveying to the next generationthat, number 1, giving matters,

(01:20:21):
number 2, how you decide itmatters is more important than
how we think it matters becauseyou're the ones who are gonna
have to figure it out next.

Oh, yeah. The generational openness to what
his grandchildren envisioned asthe the future of giving. You
know? He made it very clear thatmay not have been what he would
decide to give to, but I feltlike there was a nonjudgmental
openness, but also a trust ofhis grandchildren and their
experience of the world. And Ijust think it for me, it's

(01:20:52):
heartening to hear that in aworld where sometimes we talk
about boomers and millennialsbeing divided or the gen zers.
There there is this sharethere's this alignment in
giving, and I just, admire that.I also admire, though, that
Irwin comes from an engineeringbackground. Right? This this
thing where he again, it's verysimilar. He has this network of

(01:21:15):
folks that he built his linkabitwith, I believe, was the the
name of the company and Qualcommand all these things with
there's this networkingconnection that it sounds like
made that work better, and thisnetworking connection made their
philanthropy, their givingbetter.

That's right. You know, so many I I I think so
often the way we think aboutphilanthropy is that if you if
you pull lever a and pressbutton b, you'll get outcome c,
and you would kind of thinkthat, that an engineer might

(01:21:51):
subscribe to that sort ofapproach to philanthropy. It's
not at all the case. You knowwhat the way he talks about
philanthropy is in a verysophisticated sense of how
complicated it is, how indirectit often is, and the many inputs
that you can't control. And Ireally appreciated his way of

(01:22:15):
thinking about it at that level.
You may remember I, you know, Iasked him the question about an
example of, an initiative thatdidn't work out, and he laughed,
and he said, well, you'reinvolved in Balboa Park. And, of
course, you know, he I Iappreciated that he honestly
went at a very difficult chapterin terms of what might have been

(01:22:42):
for San Diego and Balboa Park,and largesse that he was
bringing to the table to try andhelp San Diego think about a
bigger vision for how to movethe park forward, and that
opportunity didn't work out.There was pushback from the from
some members of the community,and then time went on and costs

(01:23:02):
went up and leaders change andetcetera, etcetera, life
happens. And I I justappreciated his willingness to
name that and to acknowledge thecomplexities of the work. I I
also thought it was interestingthat, you know, he he was

(01:23:22):
painting on a very big canvasbecause at the same time as that
wasn't working out, he was alsothinking about how to move
forward a grand vision for NewBedford, Massachusetts where he
had roots and tremendously a a acommunity that deals with
tremendous challenges aroundpoverty, and and initiatives

(01:23:44):
that he could put in placethere.
And I think what we saw was thenimble mind of a philanthropist
looking really at the bigpicture and being willing to be
candid about the challenges andthe opportunities.

I appreciated that because I feel like often we
hear about the success ofeverything. Right? Whether it's
a Hollywood star Mh Aphilanthropist, and we think
people are overnight success,but especially something as
important as Balboa Park, wehave to spend the time to
understand that before we canget to the the right decision

(01:24:20):
that people are on board with,there's a lot of challenges.
Even if it is the rightdecision, there's a lot of
getting buy in.
As we both know, that is still achallenge with Balboa Park to
this day. But I admire thatIrwin Jacobs has tried and
pushed through and paint painteda vision that we're probably
gonna circle back to at somepoint and, again, try to
implement that. So I justappreciate because it reminds me

(01:24:43):
as we all do our work. Right?Things are never gonna be
perfect, but we have to continueto have the conversation and
move things forward.

Yeah. What we heard in this interview, and and
thank you. I think that thatsums it up nicely in many ways.
What we heard was a person whoit was funny. He was not
interested in talking aboutlegacy.
He was interested in talkingabout plans. He was far more
interested in talking about theworld as it looks going forward
than he was about the past. Thatis a remarkable spirit, and it

(01:25:16):
led him to talk about climate,talk about AI, talk about the
border crisis, talk aboutimmigration and challenges we
face there. This is the type ofreally energetic engaged
philanthropy that is a terrificmodel for San Diego, and I
learned a lot being with him.

As did I.

Yeah. It was a tremendous time. Thank you.
Pleasure as always, Crystal.

Pleasure. Thank you.

This is a production of the Prebys
Foundation, hosted by GrantOliphant and co hosted by
Crystal Page. The program is coproduced by Crystal Page and
Adam Greenfield, and it'sengineered by Adam Greenfield.
Production assistance isprovided by Tess Kresge. And our

(01:26:07):
new theme song is by misterLyrical Groove, a local San
Diego artist. Download episodesat your favorite podcatcher or
visit us at stop and talkpodcast.org.
If you like this show, and wereally hope you do, the best way
to support it is to share,subscribe, and review our

(01:26:29):
podcast. Thank you for yoursupport, your ideas, and most of
all, for listening. This programhas been recorded at The Voice
of San Diego Podcast Studio.

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