Johanna Jacob, who lived with her family at Lakeside from 2004 to 2009, passed away peacefully in her home in Montclair, New Jersey on March 26.
Born September 3, 1959, Jacob was a graphic design teacher at Caldwell College and was actively involved with the Book Arts Roundtable. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and then went on for her Master’s Degree in Graphic Design from the California Institute of Technology.
Jacob was an amazingly creative book artist, master gardener and an active member of Bnei Keshet Synagogue in Montclair.
She wanted to live in Mexico to experience another culture, and the family spent five years living in Riberas del Pilar in the house that her husband had inherited from his parents, who had lived in Riberas for many years.
While in Mexico, Jacob was very active in the Lake Chapala Jewish Congregation. She left a permanent footprint there in that she designed the synagogue’s “Ner Tamid” (Eternal Light), as well as the Oaxacan rugs that line the walls of the sanctuary and serve to enhance the acoustics of the space.
Jacob participated in a community project to design and build mobile bookcases that could be transported to various schools and orphanages in the area. She created two of these “mobile libraries,” incorporating Mexican legends and imagery, such as the rabbit in the moon.
She also took many photographs, and the family is now planning an exhibition of her art and photography, to be held in a local gallery in New Jersey, where they now live.
Jacob is survived by her husband Barry Jackson, daughter Arielle, her father Zaki Jacob of Walnut Creek, California, her sister and brother-in-law Mira and Ralph Sinick of San Francisco and her sister Grace Jacob of Yardley, Pennsylvania. She will be greatly missed by all who were fortunate enough to have known her and her beautiful smile.