Ariel Louis Jacobs: Working the
Room
Watch
the salesman work the room. His banter is interrupted
because his cellphone rings incessantly, but every
comer's gaze is met. The people in this room feel
important; they feel at ease. They like this guy. This
skill has made him a success.
The room this time is called Dave & Buster's.
Today is Saturday and business is not at hand, but the
salesman's skills are at work. He sips his Grey Goose
martini as the partygoers fete him with gifts for his
30th birthday. He slowly unwraps each offering. "He loved
his friends and family and loved entertaining them and
making people more comfortable," said his wife,
Jenna.
She gave birth to the salesman's son, Gabriel, on
Sept. 17. That was nine days after the party, one day
after the salesman's birthday and six days after his
death. It was six days before their first wedding
anniversary.
Ariel Louis Jacobs, known to friends as R- E and to
family members as Airy, used his charm to climb from
Radio Shack clerk to chief of United States operations
for a multinational company, Caplin Systems, in the space
of a decade.
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