Jacob Leander Loose (June 17, 1850 – September 18, 1923) was an American businessman who founded
Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company
Sunshine Biscuits, formerly known as The Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company, was an independent American baker of cookies, crackers, and cereals. The company, which became a brand on a few products such as Cheez-Its, was purchased by Keebler Company ...
.
Biography
Jacob Loose was born in
Greencastle, Indiana
Greencastle is a city in Greencastle Township, Putnam County, Indiana, United States, and the county seat of Putnam County. It was founded in 1821 by Ephraim Dukes on a land grant. He named the settlement for his hometown of Greencastle, Pennsylv ...
on June 17, 1850. He attended high school in
Decatur, Illinois, but he was a drop-out at the age of 16. At the age of 20 moved to Kansas, where he opened a dry goods store with his brother in
Chetopa.
In 1878, he married Ella Clark from
Carthage, Missouri
Carthage is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, United States. The population was 15,522 as of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Jasper County and is nicknamed "America's Maple Leaf City."
History
Jasper County was formed in 1841. ...
. The couple moved to
Kansas City in 1882 and entered the cracker business.
Community involvement
Loose started the
Children's Mercy's endowment fund in 1913.
He partially retired after an illness in 1919, and died at the couple's summer home in
Gloucester, Massachusetts on September 18, 1923. His funeral in Kansas City was attended by 700 friends and employees. His body was interred in a mausoleum in
Elmwood Cemetery.
His will established the Million Dollar Charity Fund.
Ella's continued involvement
Ella Loose supported many causes, but she especially enjoyed providing for children's needs; the couple had had two children, but both died in infancy. She held an annual "shoe party" at her favorite orphanage, Gillis Orphan's home, where each child would get a new pair of shoes and a dollar. Ella laid the groundwork for the couple's most visible legacy,
Loose Park
Loose Park is the third largest park in Kansas City, Missouri, located at 51st Street and Wornall Road. It has a lake, a shelter house, Civil War markers, tennis courts, a water park, picnic areas, and a Rose Garden. The Rose Garden hosts all ...
, by purchasing the land at 52nd and Wornall Road that had once been the Kansas City Country Club for and gifting it to the city in 1927 as a memorial to Jacob. When she died, most of her estate went to the Million Dollar Charity Fund. It was Kansas City's first $1 million foundation.
This fund, when combined with other trusts, helped launch the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and Affiliated Trusts.
References
External links
Greater Kansas City Community Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loose, Jacob
Philanthropists from Indiana
People from Greencastle, Indiana
1850 births
1923 deaths
People from Decatur, Illinois
People from Labette County, Kansas
Businesspeople from Kansas City, Missouri
Burials at Elmwood Cemetery (Kansas City, Missouri)