A refugee family’s son who built a long working life in hospitality and on Cape Cod.
Herbert Jacob was born on 16 June 1937. His obituary records that he grew up in Washington Heights with his parents, Adolph and Marga Jacob, and his older brother Vernon after the family escaped Nazi Germany. We have not yet found a record showing whether his father was the Adolf Jacob named as Anna and Julius’s son in Frankfurt in 1931.
Herb studied the culinary arts, served in the United States military in postwar Japan and built a career in restaurant and hotel management. He later managed the Chapel Hill Holiday Inn for fifteen years.
In 1991 he bought Wellfleet Real Estate and ran it until 2005. Cape Cod became the setting of his later working life and retirement.
He married Erna Spinnler in 1962. Their son Thomas died in 1986, and Erna died in 2000. Herb died on 9 January 2026. His obituary names his surviving son Andrew and daughter-in-law Kimberly Brooks and his brother Vernon. The family calls Andrew ‘Andy’; Andy confirmed in August 2026 that he is Herb’s son and Vernon’s nephew and that Vernon is living at age ninety-one.
Family and household
People connected to this life
- Adolph Jacob · father · possible connection to the 1931 Frankfurt household
- Marga Jacob · mother
- Erna Spinnler Jacob · wife · married 1962 · died 2000
- Thomas Jacob · son · died 1986
- Andy (Andrew) Jacob · son
- Vernon Jacob · older brother · living at age 91 in August 2026
Sources
Records and testimony
- Herbert Jacob obituary, Wellfleet, Massachusetts, January 2026
- Andy Jacob family testimony, August 2026
What remains uncertain
Herbert’s obituary names his parents and brother, and Andy confirmed the present family relationships. It remains uncertain whether Herbert’s father was the Adolf Jacob named in Anna and Julius’s 1931 Frankfurt household.