In loving memory of Marsha Jacobs

It is with deep sorrow that I let you know that our much beloved former Executive Director, Board member and dear friend Marsha, passed away Thursday  at 12:22 PM. The funeral was held on Monday, June 20 at 11:00 AM at Hillside Memorial Park, Los Angeles.

We see Marsha’s heart and soul everywhere at the Center. We have been blessed by her guidance, her wisdom and her ability to spread loving kindness to just about everyone. Marsha believed that all people deserve to be honored and heard and that has been the foundation of SCCC. We will miss her more than I can say.
–Gail Wilburn

I had heard about SCCC through a colleague, Shevy Healey, for many years and had been referring clients. In 1992, I spoke with Marsha about becoming a supervisor. She and Alan Rudolph met with me and at the end Marsha said, “I think you’ll be a good fit.” And that’s certainly been true for me.  There was an openness to what I had to offer – both what was similar and what was different.

The best thing about Marsha was that she was Marsha. She didn’t try to be anyone else. She was generous in sharing what she knew and readily acknowledged what she didn’t. She was willing to explore anything and willing to show her vulnerability. She reached far and found her own supports and supports around her as she reached.

I’ll never forget those weekend retreats in Arrowhead – the serious business of workshops and the hilarity of the skits; Marsha as Marilyn Monroe (and Marianne Dozer as Joan Crawford); both Marsha and Marianne as old women; and as witches. It seemed there was no end to their bravery and talent. And those touching moments at the end, everyone in a big circle, sharing what the weekend had meant.

Marsha was such a gift!

Liv Estrup

SCCC Supervisor

Marsha and I worked together as Clinical Director and Assistant Clinical Director, respectively, for 5 years, and as co-supervisors for a few of those years.   Marsha was a woman of great talent, charm, caring and commitment, dedicated to seeking collaborative solutions to every problem, and respecting every individual’s unique gifts.  And for those who don’t already know, she was the inspired founder, together with our dear departed Ken Olfson, of the Community Counselors Certificate Program – one of the brightest jewels in SCCC’s shining crown.  She was a dear colleague from whom I learned so much, as a therapist, supervisor and person.  I’m the better and wiser for having known her.  I will always remember her with gratitude, appreciation and fondness.

Marianne Dozier

SCCC Supervisor, former Assistant Clinical Director

Marsha was a dear and long-term friend.  We both started as counselors at the Center in the late 1970′s.  For many years we were training and in supervision together.  I think we stayed in Nancy Steiny’s supervision group (which also included counselors Barbara Rothman, George Thomas, Virgil Day and Ken Olfson) for at least 5 years!  Much has already been said and written about Marsha’s special accomplishments and contributions at the Center.  What I might add is a note about her special role as a grandmother.  When she and I both became grandmothers, we talked about the decision of carving out a big space in our busy lives to relish this new role.   More than a decade later, I know how much we agreed that making quality time for our grandkids a major priority was absolutely, without a doubt, the right decision!  Seeing all 7 of her wonderful grandkids at the Memorial service touched me beyond belief.

from Janet Taylor

SCCC Supervisor

Marsha Jacobs was a mentor to me.  She was a beacon of light, grace and humor in those early days of exploring what it might mean to actually become a psychotherapist.  She was open with her emotional self.  She was smart and kind and always willing to listen.  She could also hold a boundary.  The combination of these qualities is part of what made Marsha a special human being.  In many ways, Marsha represents everything that was and is great about The Center, a living testament to humanism and the open, grounded exploration of the 1960’s.  I will always be thankful to Marsha, Nancy Steiny, Jean Faivus, and The Center for giving me such a safe place to experiment and grow.  The world is a poorer place without Marsha Jacobs!

Craig A. Gillett, JD, MFT

SCCC Counselor Alumnus
President, LifeSTEPS Social Services

I was fortunate to have Marsha as a supervisor for two years in the Family Training Program.  Her easy, relaxed, common sense, open-hearted responses and reflections were a revelation to me.  I learned so much about the presence of a therapist just by experiencing her presence.  Even though she was the Center director, I marveled at how easily she made time for my problems or concerns.  Although she was both Clinical, and to a certain extent, Executive Director before the jobs were more explicitly divided, she always made me feel welcome, important, and never as though she had to put anything aside to be with me when I would walk into her office and plop down into the chair in front of her desk.  Marsha’s way of handling herself and the responsibilities of a supervisor and Center Director was an ongoing “aha” experience for me, as in, “Aha, that’s the way I want to respond to others.”  I think the way I strive to be as a therapist and supervisor is very much informed by my experience of Marsha, and I’m very grateful to have known and learned from her.

Chuck Moshontz

SCCC Alumnus and Supervisor

Marsha and Kim Cookson were my supervisors my third year at the Center. I’d come out of a great first-year supervision with Friedemann Schulz and Terry Butland, crashed and burned in a second year supervision that didn’t fit my temperament and goals, and then found my strength again nestled in their open supportive hands. I think I only told them once, at the end of that year, how important my time with them was, so I’m glad to do it again here.

I have a very short illustration of what a gift Marsha was as a supervisor. We opened that first meeting in September with Marsha and Kim asking us what were our goals for professional growth in the upcoming year. I rattled off something I hoped didn’t sound too inane and dived  into seeing new clients, finishing my thesis, and working part-time. When we wrapped up that year in the final meeting many months later, Marsha and Kim asked us again, now in the past tense, what had been our goals for professional growth in the past year. I sat there struggling to remember what I had said. With that almost mischievous smile she had, Marsha pulled from her notebook her original notes from that first September meeting and handed them to me.

It was such a small gesture, to save those notes for us, and such a meaningful one. That’s the Marsha I’ll remember. Considerate, organized, focused on the art and craft of therapy, and finding a way to tie us back to original intentions so that our present self- understanding carried more meaning. Thank you again, Marsha.

Susan Richey

TAPP Co-facilitator, SCCC Alumnae

Marsha was a shining light behind SCCC for so many years, welcoming me and so many under her wing. Her life ended too soon, indeed, and how she lived her life with such depth of feeling and commitment to both her professional life and to her family can only be admired. Marsha made such an impression upon me from the day we met at SCCC when I was interning. She wore a beautiful smile and dressed impeccably (which I loved since I’m a clothes horse). She was skilled in the work which I so admired, respected and wanted to be just like her when I grew up! I love my career and derive great pleasure from my training at SCCC and continue to grow my edges and be the best I can be for my client(s). I owe much of who I am as a psychotherapist to SCCC under her reign. May she be a blessing to all who knew her and those she touched anonymously. “Death [may] end a life but does not end a relationship.” (Robert Anderson)

Lynda A. Levy, MA., MFT

Marriage Family Therapist

Every Journey Brings Blessings….

Marsha and I were accepted in the same evaluation group at SCCC in 1977.

From that time on we became very close friends and colleagues. I was new to L.A. and Marsha took me by the hand and made me a member of her loving family. Her home became my second home. She was incredibly warm, honest, gracious, and fun to be with. My husband and I shared many wonderful times with Marsha and Mitch.

I’m grateful to have shared an incredible relationship with her, and she will always be in my heart.

Barbara Rothman

SCCC Alumnae, Supervisor, and Ex-Board member

It has been difficult for me to think of what to write about Marsha and also to accept the finality of her passing away.   Her role was so fundamental to the functioning of the Center, her commitment so absolute that, as with the passing of a parent, the world seems a more threatening place and the Center’s position in it less secure with her gone, though I know rationally that we will survive and thrive, to no small extent through her foresight.   Marsha was the clinical/executive director when I first arrived and was my first template for the job.  Though at the time I lacked the knowledge and experience to recognize the extraordinary nature of her skill and the depth of the values guiding her, I have been fortunate to witness them many times since and now have a sense of how unusual that combination of qualities is.  Whatever the difficult decision, whatever the crisis, whatever the idea being born, Marsha simply knew, as though connected to some source of unfailing wisdom, what the next step or the next question was.   Then factor in the warmth, humor and love she exuded; the loss truly becomes difficult to consider.  I will miss her very much, personally and professionally, and extend my condolences to Mitch and the family.

Bob Mendelsohn

SCCC Clinical Director

If you have words to honor Marsha or memories you’d like to share please send them to gduvall@sccc-la.org for  posting on this Memorial blog.