Born on August 2, 1945, in Brooklyn, New York, Jacobs lived in Queens near LaGuardia Airport. He was born into a Jewish family with origins in Greece, Poland, and Romania.[citation needed] As a child, he moved with his family to Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, in the mid-1950s and in 1962 graduated from Woodbridge High School. He then attended Rutgers University, where he earned both Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees. A member of the school's Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program, he entered military service as a second lieutenant in 1966.