About Wendy

On February 1, 2021, Wendy B. Jacobs passed away peacefully in her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after a valiant battle with an illness. She is survived by her two daughters, Rachel and Elana Jacobs, mother Jean Waxman, sister Carolyn and nephew Luc-Thinh Jacobs, sister Diane Kemsley, and her sister's husband Charles Cossaboom. Her father, Marvin Jacobs, predeceased her.

 

Wendy was the Emmett Clinical Professor of Environmental Law and Director of the Harvard Law School Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic. After a distinguished career as a lawyer in public service with the U.S. Department of Justice and as a partner in private practice in Boston, Wendy returned to Harvard Law School (from which she had graduated) and founded the Clinic in 2007 to address a variety of complex, client-driven, environmental and energy law and policy challenges.  Wendy was an outstanding and creative teacher and mentor who also developed a Climate Solutions Living Lab bringing together graduate students from schools across Harvard University.

 

Wendy was a member of the American College of Environmental Lawyers and on the Board of the Clean Air Task Force. Wendy was deeply committed to Civil Rights serving as a longtime member of the Board of the Anti-Defamation League New England and participating in Civil Rights missions with her daughters.

 

Wendy relished time with her daughters, spending summertime in New Hampshire and Cape Cod and enjoying trips abroad. She loved hiking, biking, and swimming.  She was a voracious reader, passionate art and music lover, and was practically unbeatable in Scrabble. As a talented cook, she hosted delicious gatherings. 

 

For more information on Wendy’s clinical and Climate Solutions Living Lab work, please visit the Emmett Environmental Law & Policy Clinic website.

 

Please click here to read Wendy’s professional biography.