Life of Amtrak victim Rachel Jacobs celebrated at New York memorial

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(JTA) — Rachel Jacobs, a victim of the Amtrak train derailment, was remembered as loving and attentive at a private memorial service at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.

Jacobs, 39, the mother of a 2-year old son and CEO of the Philadelphia-based video-learning company ApprenNet, also was remembered as one who devoted her life to education and social justice, NY1 reported.

“We will continue to honor her,” her husband, Todd Waldman, said at the service, the New York Daily News reported. “Remember how each and every one of you shaped her world.”

Songs that were special to Jacobs were played at the memorial, including The Beatles’ “Blackbird,” which she sang to her son; the Black Crowes’ “She Talks to Angels”; and Journey’s “Faithfully,” the first dance at her wedding, according to the Daily News.

She was commuting home to her family in Manhattan on May 12 when the train derailed. Jacobs, the daughter of former Michigan state Sen. Gilda Jacobs, was one of eight killed in the crash, which injured more than 200.

The Jacobs family has requested that donations be made to the Columbia Business School to create a scholarship in her name.

A funeral for Jacobs will be held on Monday in Michigan, where she will be buried in her hometown of Ferndale.

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