Rachel Jacobs, a 39-year-old mother of a 2-year-old, is still missing in the wake of an Amtrak train derailment near Port Richmond, Pennsylvania, an accident that killed at least seven people and injured more than 200 others.
Jacobs, who was recently hired as the CEO of ApprenNet, an online education start-up based in the University City section of West Philadelphia, apparently drew inspiration for her early nonprofit work from her Jewish roots.
Rachel Jacobs (r), with her husband and 2-year-old child. Jacobs is still missing after the train accident that killed at least six people and injured more than 200 others on May 12, 2015. (photo credit: JTA/Facebook)
Jacobs, who grew up in the Detroit suburb of Huntington Woods, Mich., spoke of her deep connection to Jewish community in a 2011 interview she gave as a Detroit fellow with Repair the World, a national nonprofit Jewish service-learning program that has a West Philadelphia-based branch.
Officials warned that the death toll could rise from the incident that took place late Tuesday along the busy northeast US rail corridor linking Washington and New York, as some of the 243 people believed to have been on the train had not yet been accounted for.
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