Rachel Jacobs in summer 2013 with her husband, Todd Waldman, and son Jacob, now 2. (Facebook photo)

Rachel Jacobs, a 39-year-old executive who grew up in Huntington Woods and lived in New York, died in the train crash near Philadelphia.

“This is an unthinkable tragedy,” her family says in a statement, according to the Washington Post.

“Rachel was a wonderful mother, daughter, sister, wife and friend.She was devoted to her family, her community and the pursuit of social justice. We cannot imagine life without her.”

Two months ago, she became chief executive of ApprenNet, an online apprenticeship service in Philadelphia. Her previous position was vice president of strategy and business development for Ascend Learning, an education technology company serving health care and other industries.

Jacobs, a 1993 graduate of Berkley High School, attended last September's three-day Detroit Homecoming conference sponsored by Crain's Detroit Business.

In 2010, Jacobs created Detroit Nation, a nonprofit group of 7,000 ex-Detroiters who stay connected to the city and work with innovative leaders emerging here. It has chapters in New York and Chicago, and has hosted cultural events and volunteer opportunities -- such as free consulting to startups and nonprofits.

"Rachel was an incredible ambassador for Michigan," Michelle Elder posts Wednesday night on Detroit Nation's Facebook page. "She made a great, positive impact on her community -- in NY and MI. She will be greatly missed by the world." Elder, a University of Michigan graduate, is a Metro Detroit business development manager for thet Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

Jacobs earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology and sociology from Swarthmore College, followed by a master's of business administration in 2002 from Columbia University. 

Survivors include her parents, Gilda and John Jacobs of Huntington Woods. Gilda Jacobs, CEO and president of the nonpartisan Michigan League for Public Policy since 2011, was a state senator from 2002-10 and a state representative from 1997-2001

A Huntington Woods resident, Kim Lifton, posts a tribute on Facebook:

Rachel was such a beautiful girl, inside and out. I had not seen Rachel since she was a kid, but I loved getting updates on her good work from her mom when I would see her outside walking her dog down the street.

I have met some amazing people during my life. I think it is fair to say Rachel was one of them. As a teen, she had this passion to save the world. She did a lot of good, took the meaning of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) to a new level. I will always remember her as the cool kid in town.

These comments also went up late Wednesday on Facebook:

► "She was a lovely person, as I remember her from growing up at Temple Emanuel [in Oak Park]." -- Amy Gantz Gers, a West Bloomfield native now in Greensboro, N.C.

► "Our hearts are broken. We loved Rachel!" -- Susie Pappas, Bloomfield Hills

► "Our deepest sympathies go out to the family of Rachel Jacobs after this unimaginable tragedy. . . . Our community grieves over this truly heartbreaking loss." -- The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit 

>My heart goes out to the family and friends of Rachel Jacobs, who was tragically killed in the Amtrack crash. I didn't know Rachel well, but well enough to look up to her in school, see her being brilliant and strong but still gentle and sweet with everyone around her. -- Shoshanna Utchenik, Huntington Woods

-- Alan Stamm

Original article, Wednesday afternoon

Rachel Jacobs, a Detroit area native now living in New York, is missing after the deadly Amtrak crash in Philadelphia, friends and family have told The Forward, a Jewish newspaper in New York. She is the daughter of former state Sen. Gilda Jacobs.

The paper reported that she is a Jewish community activist and  CEO of ApprenNet, an online apprenticeship service.

A coworker told the local ABC affiliate that Jacobs has not been heard from since she told her husband she had boarded the train Tuesday night, the paper reported. CNN was reporting that seven people were killed and 200 were injured.

The Forward reported that a rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in Oak Park said Jacobs’ parents were still hoping she would be found.

“They’re waiting for good news,” Rabbi Arturo Kalfus told the Forward.

“We are just frantic waiting to hear news from my daughter,” Gilda Jacobs, Rachel’s mother,  who lives in Huntington Woods, told the New York Daily News. A woman who answered the phone at the temple told Deadline Detroit that the temple was hoping for the best of outcomes.

Jacobs, 39, grew up in Huntington Woods and lives in Manhattan. She is married and has a two-year-old.

Gilda Jacobs Democrat Gilda Jacombs was a state senator from 2003 through 2010, and served as a state representative 1999-2002. She iscurrently president and CEO of the Michigan League for Public Policy.