Jared Jacobsen, 70, the longtime organist at the Chautauqua Institution and a former Girard resident, died on Tuesday from injuries in a car crash near Geneva, Ohio, authorities reported.
Chautauqua Institution President Michael E. Hill confirmed the death in a statement released on Wednesday.
Jacobsen served as the Chautauqua Institution’s organist and coordinator of worship and sacred music for nearly 25 years.
“While we await formal word of Jared’s wishes, we know our community is grieving this unspeakable loss,” Hill said in the statement. “Many have described Jared and the music he masterfully created with the iconic Massey Memorial Organ at the Chautauqua Amphitheater as the heart and soul of Chautauqua.
“This sentiment speaks not only to Jared’s talent, but of his ever-presence during our summer assembly season, his untiring love for music, and his generous willingness to share his passions with Chautauquans across generations,” Hill said. “His music ushered in each day, heralded the noontime and afternoon hours, and closed each Sunday evening of the summer assembly, keeping the time of a timeless community.”
Jacobsen played his final service and concert on Sunday — a service he curated and titled “Camp Meeting is Over,” Hill said.
Jacobsen graduated second in his class from Girard High School in 1967. He was born in New Castle in 1949 and grew up in Girard. He began his love of music when he was 5 as a piano student at the Chautauqua Institution, according to his biography on the Girard School District Foundation’s website.
Jacobsen was 13 when he began his church music career as organist for the Grace Episcopal Chapel in Fairview. He earned a bachelor of music degree with honors from Westminster College in New Wilmington, and earned a master of music degree from the University of Arizona.
A California resident since 1976, Jacobsen served as fifth civic organist of San Diego from 1978 through 1984.
Jacobsen previously served as director of music for the First Lutheran Church in downtown San Diego, and for many years, was a member of the performing arts faculty of The Bishop School, an independent college preparatory middle and high school in La Jolla, California.
Jacobsen toured extensively as a pianist, organist and choral clinician in the United States, Mexico, Great Britain, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
