Poetic Obituaries: [Robert Jacob] conducted poetry workshops

that attracted aspiring poets, and the library was well stocked with favorites both old and new.

In addition to running the inn--the Jacobs realized after six years that it was backbreaking work--Jacob began a company, Versetility to sell poetry books. Much of his stock consisted of works written by some of the poets who had been guests of the inn: well- known authors such as Stanley Kunitz and Galway Kinnell. He also cataloged the works of New Hampshire poet Donald Hall. The profits were remitted to the poets themselves.

In 1992, the Jacobs sold the inn, and he and his wife moved to Burlington, then in 2002 to West Hartford in search of a more lively poetry community. Jacob began going weekly to the Branford Hospice, which opened in 1974 as the first in-patient hospice program in the country.

As part of the arts program at the hospice, he read his own poetry and that of others, and encouraged patients and their families to write their own poems.

from Hartford Courant: Robert Jacob: A Businessman With A Passion For Poetry

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