Joseph J. Jacobs, 88; Founder of Jacobs Engineering Group

Joseph J. Jacobs, chairman and founder of Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., one of the world’s largest engineering and construction firms, died Saturday in Pasadena. He was 88.

A Brooklyn, N.Y., native, Jacobs moved to California and founded his namesake company in 1947, offering his services as a chemical engineering consultant and manufacturers’ representative for large-scale equipment. The Pasadena-based public company now designs, builds and operates plants in the oil, pharmaceutical, chemical and biotechnology industries. It posted $4.6 billion in revenue last year and has more than 35,000 employees worldwide.

Born in 1916, Jacobs was the son of a notions peddler who had immigrated from Lebanon. Jacobs’ family became wealthy during World War I by selling straight razors. But after the safety razor was invented, the family’s fortune plummeted.

Jacobs worked various jobs to pay for his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn and taught college while he earned his master’s degree and doctorate in that field. In later years, he served on the university’s board of trustees as well as the board of trustees of Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, where he helped fund the Jacobs Science Center.

Friends say he never forgot his humble beginnings. Jacobs credited his family and his Lebanese heritage with its focus on commerce and self-reliance as the keys to his success in business.

“He really loved growing businesses,” said John Prosser Jr., Jacob’s executive vice president of finance, who worked with Jacobs for about 30 years. And, Prosser said, Jacobs was acutely aware of the moral and ethical obligations companies had in dealing with the public.

“I believe that companies develop a character and a personality of their own,” Jacobs told the Newcomen Society, a group devoted to the study of the history of engineering and technology, in 1980. “I believe also that the standards, the morals, the integrity of the people who influence the company’s growth help to shape that personality. Play it straight, deal with honesty and integrity, and you’ll get your share.”

In 1983, President Reagan presented Jacobs with the Hoover Medal, recognizing his contributions in engineering, education and humanitarian efforts.

Jacobs’ 1991 autobiography, “The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur: Family, Culture and Ethics,” detailed Jacobs’ philosophy of cultural and moral values for the business world. Four years later, he followed up with “The Compassionate Conservative: Assuming Responsibility and Respecting Human Dignity,” which outlined his strategy for helping others within the context of his conservative political and economic bent.

Jacobs served as chief executive of his engineering company until 1992, when he stepped down to found two venture capital firms and get more involved in charity work. He remained chairman of the Jacobs board.

“A lot of people ask me when I’m going to retire,” Jacobs said in an interview with The Times in 1983. “I ask them where it’s written down that you have to hate what you’re doing.”

His daughter, Linda Jacobs, chairwoman of the Near East Foundation, remains on the company’s board.

“Joe was a giant in our industry. His quest for professionalism, coupled with his vision and ethical values, shaped our world,” Jacobs Chief Executive Noel Watson said in a statement. Watson described Jacobs as a “great friend, mentor and boss.”

In the last 16 years, Jacobs, through his Jacobs Family Foundation, funneled $32 million into grants to various nonprofit organizations. Eight years ago, he established the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation in San Diego, which helps communities turn their economic fortunes around through economic aid, technical assistance and training. The foundation’s efforts have thus far focused on a low-income section of southeastern San Diego, where the center’s work resulted in the first major grocery store, restaurants and other businesses entering the area.

Housing and commercial office space are planned for the next phase of the project, called Market Creek Plaza.

“He respected the inherent dignity of people, their independence and their ability to solve their own problems,” said Jennifer Vanica, president of the Jacobs Center. “He was a great entrepreneur and a great risk-taker.”

In addition to his daughter Linda, Jacobs is survived by his wife, Violet, children Margaret and Valerie, and two grandchildren.