Joel Jacobson; Former New Jersey Casino Regulator

Joel Jacobson, 71, a former casino regulator who once called Frank Sinatra “an obnoxious bully” and was later appointed court trustee of a scandal-ridden Teamsters local in New Jersey. Jacobson, a longtime labor union official, joined the state Casino Control Commission in 1981. His comment about Sinatra came in 1984 after the singer and fellow entertainer Dean Martin forced a blackjack dealer at the former Golden Nugget casino in Atlantic City to deal from her hand instead of the plastic “shoe,” which holds the cards. Jacobson’s remark so angered Sinatra that he refused to perform in the state for a time. Jacobson resigned from the commission in June, 1986, and was appointed by a federal judge to run Union City-based Teamsters Local 560 until May, 1987. In Livingston, N.J., on Tuesday of undisclosed causes.