Jacobs, Klaus Johann

▪ 2009

      German-born Swiss entrepreneur and philanthropist

born Dec. 3, 1936, Bremen, Ger.

died Sept. 11, 2008, Küsnacht, Switz.

took control of his family's coffee-trading business in 1969, moved (1973) the headquarters from Bremen to Zürich, and subsequently merged (1982) it with Suchard-Tobler to create the international coffee and confectionery giant Jacobs Suchard AG. In 1990 Jacobs sold the majority of that company to U.S.-based Philip Morris for $3.8 billion, though he retained some divisions. In 1996 he acquired the French candy firm Cacao Barry and christened the newly combined business Barry Callebaut; by 2008 it was one of the world's premier chocolate companies, with such international brands as Brach's, Van Houten, and Callebaut. Jacobs also was an owner of Adecco SA, the world's largest temporary employment agency, which he created through a 1996 merger between his own Adia Personnel Services and the French firm Ecco Staffing. In 1988 he established the charitable Jacobs Foundation, and in 2006 he donated an unprecedented €200 million (about $250 million) to the International University of Bremen, which was renamed Jacobs University in his honour.

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