David Jacobs was born on August 12, 1939 in Baltimore, Maryland, the elder of two children (with a younger sister named Susan) to Melvin and Ruth Jacobs.^[1] His Jewish parents were of modest means, and Jacobs's father worked as a household appliance salesman.^{[citation needed]} Jacobs was educated at Baltimore City College High School, and received a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art.^{[citation needed]} Soon after graduation, he moved to New York City, where he worked as an illustrator and researcher for Grolier's Encyclopedia.^{[citation needed]} He soon branched out as a freelance writer of nonfiction articles, the best known of which concerned the architect and inventor Buckminster Fuller.^{[citation needed]} He also wrote a children's book on the great artists of the Renaissance.^{[citation needed]}. In 1975 he co-wrote the non-fiction book "Police, a Precinct at Work", with Sara Ann Friedman. The book was a series of stories based upon 6 months of the authors' ride-alongs with police from NYPD's 24th precinct.

His marriage to actress Lynn Pleshette produced one child, his daughter Albyn, but ended in divorce. Later, he married his second wife Diana, with whom he had two children, Aaron and Molly.^{[citation needed]} Jacobs moved to Los Angeles to be closer to his daughter, and tried his hand at screenwriting.^{[citation needed]} His script for a proposed unnamed pilot mini series was later named Dallas. The mini series was so successful that the show was picked up as an on-going series and cemented his career as a writer and producer.^{[citation needed]}

Jacobs battled Alzheimer's disease in later years. He died of complications from a series of infections at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California, on August 20, 2023. He was 84.^[2][3][4]

• David Jacobs at IMDb
• David Jacobs at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
• David Jacobs at Columbia College Hollywood