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. His Jewish parents were of modest means, and Jacobs's father worked as a household appliance salesman. Jacobs was educated at
Baltimore City College High School, and received a BFA from the
Maryland Institute College of Art. Soon after graduation, he moved to New York City, where he worked as an illustrator and researcher for ''Grolier's Encyclopedia''. He soon branched out as a freelance writer of nonfiction articles, the best known of which concerned the architect and inventor
Buckminster Fuller. He also wrote a children's book on the great artists of the
Renaissance.. 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. Jacobs moved to
Los Angeles to be closer to his daughter, and tried his hand at screenwriting. 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. 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. ==Filmography==