Philip F. Jacobus

Philip F. Jacobus, founder and CEO of DOTmed.com and publisher of HealthCare Business News, as well as President of Owen Kane Holdings, Inc., passed away unexpectedly on Sunday August 23, at the age of 72.

Philip was born and raised in Kane, a town in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania. He’d say that his backyard, growing up, was a vast wilderness, and he always reminisced lovingly when speaking of the town and its people. He often returned there to visit with friends and relatives.

He graduated from Kane High School in 1972 and went on to earn his bachelor’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh. His ambitions were as large as his hometown was small, and so, naturally, upon graduating, he was off to New York City.

Even that metropolis was too constricting to contain his ideas, and so he went to China with his first foray into medical equipment technology, heading the China Business Development Group, CBDG. Doing business there was complex, and for 1977, still very unorthodox. But people there recognized his sincerity, which came across in any language, and CBDG was a success. It’s hard to picture now, but Phil sold China its first MRI system.

That set a pattern, and he would later bring the same earnest good will to his business dealings around the world, including Russia, where he similarly helped build the country’s very first proton therapy system in St. Petersburg through his investment company, Owen Kane Holdings.

By that time he’d built a new company in a pioneering realm, where business done online and in the real world meshed seamlessly. This was DOTmed.com. It was the turn of the century and the “dot com boom” occupied everyone’s thinking. People were beginning to get used to hearing the term “dot-this-or-that”, and so he and his colleague devised the name DOTmed.com, which could be so easily remembered because it fused the company’s concept with its means of access. But what isn’t known about that name is that Phil’s mother had passed away shortly before the company was born. Her name was Dorothy, but people knew her as Dot. And so, DOTmed was also meant to honor her memory.

Every business venture Philip began brought success. That’s no secret. But unlike so many, he absolutely rejected measuring success in terms of money. What he openly, fully took pride in was not the money his business acumen earned him, but that he’d been able use it to secure success and comfort for others. Everyone around him could see that this was what brought him the greatest joy and satisfaction. He hoped to, at some time, initiate a fund that would carry his good fortune into the future, to help young people born in need.

He was the type of person who, at a moment’s notice, would do anything for anyone. He was a dutiful, caring son, and son-in-law. And there are very few things he couldn’t lend a helping hand to. He gardened, he could fix just about anything, and though his days were long and filled with serious business, at the end of the day he was a superb cook, and could entertain and lift the conversation effortlessly with his gentle, hearty sense of humor.

Philip loved to travel, and the same skills he brought to bear doing business around the world aided him in pursuing that passion. He was generous of spirit and constantly thrilled to meet people from other walks of life, other cultures, and experiences. He was famous for “ice-breaking” and loved striking up conversations with all he met, focusing in on everything he could learn from them, and sharing his own sharp observations. Italy, the land of his family’s historic origin, was particularly close to his heart. In recent years he enjoyed traveling there with the love of his life, his wife of 37 years, Barbara Fahringer, as well as to India and Egypt, where he was both immersed in history, one of his fondest interests, and his other great delight, learning about cultures and meeting people.

He is predeceased by his father, Philip Francis Jacobus, and his mother Dorothy Jacobus, and survived by his wife Barbara; along with his many close relatives, lifelong friends, his beloved associates of many years at DOTmed, and the innumerable friends and allies he made in his adventurous journey through life.

Visitation and services will be held Wednesday, September 2, 2026 at Joseph V. Leahy Funeral Home located at 27 Smith Ave., Kingston, NY. Visitation will be from 3 PM to 6PM, followed by a brief ceremony.