Jacob Loose
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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)