John E. Jacobs, 79, former Pennsauken mayor

John E. Jacobs, 79, of Pennsauken, a former sheet-metal worker who was township mayor in the 1980s, died of complications from asbestosis Sunday, Feb. 16, at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden.

Born in South Philadelphia, Mr. Jacobs graduated from Southeast Catholic High School in 1952 and joined Sheet Metal Workers Local 19, his daughter, Jacqueline DiNunzio, said.

He built signs for, among others, Philadelphia Sign Co. in Palmyra, she said.

Mr. Jacobs shifted careers, she said, working as executive director of the Pennsauken Solid Waste Management Authority until retiring in the late 1990s.

While with the authority, his daughter said, he was a member of the Township Committee and then mayor, both part-time positions.

For a time, she said, he was also a member of the planning and zoning board.

At St. Peter Elementary School in Merchantville, he was a football coach and athletic director in the late 1960s and early 1970s, she said. He had been a tackle on his high school football team.

And through the 1970s, she said, he was a baseball coach and umpire for the Pennsauken Youth Athletic Association.

Besides his daughter, he is survived by wife Bertha, a brother, a sister, and three grandchildren. He was predeceased by his first wife, Dolores, and son John E. Jr.

A visitation will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, and 8:45 to 9:45 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, at the Falco/Caruso & Leonard Funeral Home, 6600 N. Browning Rd., Pennsauken, before a 10:30 a.m. Funeral Mass at the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, 236 E. Main St., Maple Shade, with interment in Calvary Cemetery in Cherry Hill.

Donations may be sent to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital at www.stjude.org. Condolences may be offered to the family at www.carusocare.com.