Jan Jacobson

Celebrity Recipient – Career Achievement Journalism – 2008 Phoenix Music Awards – 18th Annual LA Music Awards

JACOBSON, Jan a journalist, photographer, realtor, author, editor, public relations and marketing consultant, and radio show host, whose contributions to the television industry garnered her the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ prestigious Governor’s Award, died on Friday night in Phoenix. She was 58 years old. “Jan has been a driving force in the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for more than twenty three years,” says Dr. John Craft, Rocky Mountain Southwest chapter board member and professor of communications at Arizona State University. Jan and Dr. Craft joined the board of the chapter together in the mid-80’s and serves as officers together. She worked with Dr. Craft to incorporate the chapter and build its credibility. “Jan was a tireless contributor to grow the chapter to the well recognized organization that it is today,” Craft said. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Jan moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s after graduating from Michigan State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and began her career as a professional journalist. An author by the age of 23, Jan wrote the Amphoto Guide to Framing & Display and the Professional Guide to Green Plants. She was an editor to two other books and at Big Valley magazine, where she was introduced to the entertainment and television industry, interviewing celebrities and focusing on the motion picture and television industry. She was also active in a number of local professional organizations, including the Valley Press Club where she was President and the International Association of Business Communicators IABC, where she also served as President. She left Big Valley to accept the position of Director of Communications for U.S. Administrators now known as First Health. While at USA, Jan met her husband Dan and together they moved to Phoenix in the late 1980s. In Phoenix, Jan quickly established herself as a member of the media, starting her own public relations firm, JB Communications, and beginning her involvement with NATAS. Past regional president and national trustee of the organization, she also served on the Academy’s National Public Relations Committee and as an advisor to TV Quarterly magazine. In addition to the Governor’s Award, Jan was the recipient of two Presidential Emmy Awards and was inducted into the Academy’s Silver Circle Society in 2009, an initiative with which she had been involved since its inception in 1993. An internationally published photojournalist, publicist and independent producer, she has served as editor and writer for national, regional and local consumer and trade magazines, newspapers, and newsletters including Adweek, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and Business Week. She frequently wrote for the Business Journal and Arizona Homes & Lifestyles Magazine. She was also a contributor to the Arizona Republic, Arizona Business Gazette, Foothills Focus, North Central News and many other publications. A board member for six years at the House of Broadcasting Museum in Phoenix, Jan also received a Journalist of the Year Award at the Hollywood Fame Awards in 2008 and was honored in 2009 with a Career Achievement in Journalism Award from the Phoenix Music Awards. She also served as the Public Service Director for Sandusky Radio’s five local stations and as host and producer of the weekly, hour-long public affairs program, Valley Focus. She was an extraordinary wife, daughter, and mother, and an invaluable friend to countless. She is preceded in death by Dan, her beloved husband of 17 years. She is survived by her son Mark, her mother Tobie, and her sisters Beverly and Shelley. Graveside services were held at Paradise Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to Hospice of the Valley, The Gardiner Home, 1522 W. Myrtle Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85021. Arrangements by Sinai Mortuary.Sign the Guest Book at eastvalleytribune.com – See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/eastvalleytribune/obituary.aspx?n=jan-jacobson&pid=144212295#sthash.nTfs2Zgy.dpuf