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Fisherman’s Wharf tourist icon dies of heart ailment
http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/fishermans-wharf-tourist-icon-dies-heart-ailment/ndmWy/
By Claudine Wong
SAN FRANCISCO — For 30 years Gregory Jacobs spent his days at Fisherman's Wharf hiding behind branches, often up against a trash can, silently waiting for unsuspecting tourists to come by.
When they did, and when they least expected it, he would push those branches towards them, often giving them a little growl. Almost always, without fail, they would jump scream and run.
It is one of those iconic San Francisco experiences. Few people can forget a run-in with the bushman.
But Jacobs hadn't been in his usual spot lately. He's been in and out the hospital with heart problems. Last Sunday, his family told KTVU, his heart finally gave out and Jacobs passed away.
People might not realize he's gone. They might not know because there are actually two bushmen down on the Wharf.
David Johnson is known as the one and only bushman. He's been at longer, for 36 years.
Johnson and Jacobs did fight over the years for the best spot and claim to the name. But when we caught up with Johnson, he told us that in the last decade the two had become friends.
He told us he knew Jacobs had been sick but didn't know he had passed away.
Jacobs' cousin says he was a father and brother and a man who always wanted to be in that spot down on the Wharf. And even in his final days he took every opportunity he could to come back.
“Yeah every time he got out of the hospital he would come straight out and sit down (at the Wharf) with his hospital ban (still on his wrist),” Jacob’s cousin Chris Tolbert told KTVU. “He got in his spot as if nothing was wrong with him.”
His family says they just hope people remember him and that what he loved to do was to make people laugh.
That's something David Johnson says he understands. He told us that's what he and Jacobs had in common.
"It’s the people, it's the atmosphere,” Johnson said. “It’s a feeling you get just being here, just seeing people laugh. Once you get into it it's a lovely feeling,”
Jacobs' family says home for Gregory was the Wharf. However, Jacobs originally lived in Arkansas and they are now trying to raise money to bring him back to Arkansas to be buried.
Donations to help them can be made at:
Duggans Funeral home
3434 17thStreet
San Francisco California 941110
