New Castle man remembers daughter-in-law who died in Philly Amtrak crash

May 15, 2015 at 12:10a.m.

NEW CASTLE, Pa.

Rachel Jacobs, 39, loved music: She and her husband’s family attended a music festival in New Orleans every year.

She loved to travel: She lived overseas for more than a year, and vacationed with her husband in Iceland and Argentina.

She was a runner: She completed the New York City Marathon.

More than anything, however, Bruce Waldman of New Castle remembers his daughter-in-law for her intelligence and her deep love for his son, Todd, and grandson, Jacob.

Jacobs was one of the eight victims who died after an Amtrak train derailed in Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

“She was a very, very wonderful person. She was extremely bright,” Waldman said, detailing her job as CEO of ApprenNet, a Philadelphia-based tech company.

Jacobs was leaving work in Philadelphia to return home to New York City that night, Waldman said.

“She was a workaholic,” he said, adding that Jacobs texted her husband about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday to let him know she was on the way home.

Todd, who originally is from New Castle and graduated from Neshannock schools, and Jacobs met in New York in 2006 and married in Cleveland in 2009. The couple’s son is 21/2.

When the couple started dating, Waldman called his other son, Andrew, and asked what Jacobs was like.

“He said, ‘She’s just like Todd. She’s smarter than hell,’” Waldman said.

Waldman recalled how, as the couple was leaving for their wedding reception, Todd serenaded her on the piano with the song “Faithfully” by Journey, a reference to the first time they met.

“They just had the most-perfect marriage. Todd would say, and she would say, ‘It’s not about I, it’s about us,’” Waldman said. “She was very loving to my son. In my lifetime I wish I would have someone love me the way Rachel loved Todd.”

Jacobs was born and raised in Huntington Woods, Mich. She went on to study at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and then got her MBA from Columbia University.

She’s survived by her parents and a sister.

Waldman remembers Jacobs’ passion for Detroit, where she was co-founder of Detroit Nation, a group made up of that city’s natives living elsewhere.

“She built it and built it and built it and got a lot of respect,” he said. “... That was one of her passions.”

Though Jacobs leaves behind a company, the biggest loss is to her family, Waldman said.

“They showered him with love,” he said of the couple’s son. “The suffering of Todd and the little boy — it’s going to be extremely difficult because she was so close to her son.”

His son, Waldman said, is doing as well as could be expected.

“He’s a very strong guy, but when tragedy strikes anybody — in any family, anywhere — it’s devastating,” he said.

“She was just damn bright,” he said. “She had it all. She was beautiful inside and out.”