The love story of Marvin K. Jacobs (’52 Law) and Marilyn Becker Jacobs (’56), like many Michigan Jewish love stories, began at Hillel.
This March, as Michigan Hillel celebrates its 100th Anniversary, Marvin and Marilyn’s son, Mark Jacobs (’79), reflected on the moment that changed the course of their family’s history.
It was September 1952 when Marvin, then a 22-year-old third-year law student from Toledo, joined a few friends heading to the Hillel Fall Mixer. Marilyn, a 17-year-old first-year student from Chicago living in Mosher-Jordan Hall, also decided to go. Musicians played. Students danced. And somewhere amid the music and movement, Marvin and Marilyn found each other.
After the mixer, Marvin offered to take Marilyn to the Howard Johnson’s at Stadium & Washtenaw, a beloved off-campus hangout at the time. As soon as they both ordered their ice cream, they knew something simple and sweet was starting.
They dated throughout his final year of law school. When Marvin went into military service at Fort Smith, Arkansas, Marilyn traveled there with her parents by train to visit. The couple got engaged, and were married in February, 1956. Mark was born in 1958; a sister and brother followed. Today, the Jacobs family, including grandchildren, is rooted in Ohio, where Marvin and Marilyn, now 96 and 90, remain active in Temple Shomer Emunim in Sylvania. Marilyn and Mark have served as synagogue presidents.
For Marvin, the son of immigrants, Michigan and Hillel offered safety, belonging, and opportunity. “Hillel was a safe place for me then,” he reflects. “And now, when antisemitism is more prominent, it will continue to be a safe haven for future generations — a place where they can feel comfortable.”
Mark, now an attorney and publisher of Current Magazine and Ann Arbor Family, remembers going to Hillel services and Shabbat meals as a student. “It was a place where people shared the same values and upbringing,” he says. “We need to honor the past by committing to the future so the next generation can meet their Marilyn or Marvin.”
As Michigan Hillel prepares to fill the Big House for its Centennial Celebration Weekend, the Jacobs family story stands as a testament to everything Hillel makes possible: connection, community, and the beginnings of lives built together.
And as Marvin and Marilyn often say, “Going to Michigan was the best thing that ever happened to us, because we found each other.”
RSVP online by February 23, 2026 for the Michigan Hillel Centennial event.
