Jacob Loose
{{Short description|American philanthropist and businessman (1850–1923)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Jacob Leander Loose (1850–1923).png
| caption = 1896 portrait of Loose
| birth_name = Jacob Leander Loose
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1850|06|17}}
| birth_place = Greencastle, Indiana, US
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1923|09|18|1850|06|17}}
| death_place = Gloucester, Massachusetts, US
| burial_place = Elmwood Cemetery, Kansas City, Missouri, US
| spouse = {{Marriage|Ella Clark|1878}}
| occupation = Philanthropist, businessman
| signature = Signature of Jacob Leander Loose (1850–1923).png
}}
Jacob Leander Loose (June 17, 1850 – September 18, 1923) was an American philanthropist and businessman who founded Sunshine Biscuits.
Biography
Jacob Loose was born in Greencastle, Indiana on June 17, 1850. He attended high school in Decatur, Illinois, but dropped out at the age of 16. At the age of 20, he moved to Kansas, where he opened a dry goods store with his brother in Chetopa.{{Cite book|title=Notable Kansas Citians of 1915-1916-1917-1918|last=|first=|work=The Independent|year=1925|isbn=|location=Kansas City, MO|pages=189–190}}{{Cite web|url=https://pendergastkc.org/article/biography/jacob-l-and-ella-c-loose|title=Jacob L. and Ella C. Loose|date=2018-02-20|website=The Pendergast Years|access-date=2019-07-08}}
In 1878, he married Ella Clark from Carthage, Missouri. They moved to Kansas City in 1882 and entered the cracker business.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/biographicaldi1271mose/page/302/mode/1up |title=Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of the Representative Men of the United States: Illinois Volume |editor-first=John |editor-last=Moses |publisher=Lewis Publishing Company |location=Chicago |pages=302–304 |year=1896 |access-date=2021-12-10 |via=Internet Archive}}
Community involvement
Loose started the Children's Mercy's endowment fund in 1913.
He partially retired due to an illness in 1919, and died at the couple's summer home in Gloucester, Massachusetts on September 18, 1923.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/65648518/jacob-loose-dead/ |title=Jacob Loose Dead |newspaper=The Hutchinson News |location=Gloucester, Massachusetts |page=2 |date=1923-09-18 |access-date=2021-12-10 |via=Newspapers.com}} His funeral in Kansas City was attended by 700 friends and employees. His body was interred in a mausoleum in Elmwood Cemetery.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90348129/at-j-l-loose-funeral-700/ |title=At J. L. Loose Funeral, 700 |newspaper=The Kansas City Star |page=2 |date=1923-09-25 |access-date=2021-12-10 |via=Newspapers.com}}
His will established the Million Dollar Charity Fund.
=Ella's continued involvement=
Ella Loose supported many causes, but she especially enjoyed providing for children's needs; the couple had had two children, but both died in infancy. She held an annual "shoe party" at her favorite orphanage, Gillis Orphans' Home, where each child would get a new pair of shoes and a dollar.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a5R2CQAAQBAJ&q=gillis+orphans+home+loose&pg=PT62|title=Forgotten Tales of Kansas City|last=Kirkman|first=Paul|date=2012-10-23|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9781614237389|language=en}} Ella purchased the land at 52nd and Wornall Road that had once been the Kansas City Country Club, and gifted it to the city in 1927 as a memorial to Jacob. This land became Loose Park.{{Cite web|url=https://kcparks.org/places/loose-jacob-l-memorial-2/|title=Jacob L. Loose Memorial - KC Parks and Rec|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-08}} When she died, most of her estate went to the Million Dollar Charity Fund. It was Kansas City's first $1 million foundation.{{Cite web|url=https://www.growyourgiving.org/donor-story/century-serving-poor-and-needy-children|title=A Century of Serving Poor and Needy Children |publisher=Greater Kansas City Community Foundation|access-date=2019-07-08}} This fund, when combined with other trusts, helped launch the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and Affiliated Trusts.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.growyourgiving.org/ Greater Kansas City Community Foundation]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loose, Jacob}}
Category:Philanthropists from Indiana
Category:People from Greencastle, Indiana
Category:People from Decatur, Illinois
Category:People from Labette County, Kansas
Category:Businesspeople from Kansas City, Missouri
Category:Burials at Elmwood Cemetery (Kansas City, Missouri)