Jacob L. Dexter-Meldrum ’20 died on February 14, 2024, in New York, New York.

(The following was provided by weremember.com on February 14, 2025:)

Jacob “Jake” Leon Dexter-Meldrum ’20

Jacob Dexter-Meldrum was born on August 25, 1997, in San Francisco to Christina Meldrum and Douglas Dexter. Jacob lived his first fourteen years with his family in Marin County, settling into Ross from ages 3 thru 14. In 2001, he was joined by his brother, Owen Dexter-Meldrum. During Jacob’s childhood, the family spent summers at a Michigan lake cottage that had been in Christina’s family for over a century, where Jacob enjoyed time with his grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins and learned to sail — early among Jacob’s diversity of interests. During the remainder of the year, he enjoyed time with family and friends around Ross, as well as more local aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Jacob took an early interest in playing violin and chess, participating in chess tournaments throughout grade school. Jacob also loved sports, particularly baseball which he played from age five through high school. Jacob enjoyed serving a stabilizing force as team catcher and lead-off hitter. But surfing was Jacob’s greatest athletic passion. Beginning in middle school, Jacob would rise at any hour to meet good waves at any water temperature and stay until the last waves were blown out.

Cate School

By age 10, Jacob had determined that he would attend a boarding high school and become a physician. For boarding school, he prepared and submitted all of his own application materials, including a video. Jacob attended Cate School in Carpinteria, California, where he could pursue his passions for academics and surfing. Jacob revered then Cate Outdoors Program Director Ned Bowler, who recalls:

“Jake was that quintessential enthusiast, his genuine desire for adventure in and around the ocean in particular was astounding. It was as though he was a dolphin in another lifetime, and wanted to get back to his source, the sea, with all its miracles of life and motion. He surfed with grace and loved to share his experience on each wave with great detail and hand gestures.”

Jacob continued his love for baseball at Cate, as remembered by Coach Ben Soto:

“Jake found that rare balance of boyish fun mixed with competitive drive out on the diamond. He was always working on his craft to make sure he gave his best effort, be it in the batter’s box, behind the dish, or on the bump. I will always remember JDM for his corazon to compete, to show up for each contest knowing that he had put in the practice time to be at his best when his best was needed. He will also be remembered for that smile that could light up any dugout!”

Meanwhile, Jacob added a passion for the ceramics wheel, water polo, and music. His Cate faculty advisor and Performing Arts Chair John Knecht recalls:

“Jake threw himself into everything he loved. He debated world topics with a seriousness and loved to test out big ideas in real time. Jake offered his heart and energy to faculty children, teaching them how to play chess in the McIntosh Room, throw a ceramics bowl in the barn, or surf the waves at Rincon Point. He made his impact everywhere on campus.”

Jacob thrived academically at Cate, graduating with Honors. At graduation, Head of School Ben Williams summarized Jacob’s tenure in this way:

“Jake seems to be perpetually on the lookout for ways to help. He started the ‘Room to Read’ program as a freshman with the hope of acquiring books with which to fill a library he had planned for a village in Africa. . . . He is competitive too, only in the best sense of the word, trying to get everything he can from himself or his teammates in whatever worthy venture they are engaged. He is a water polo and baseball standout – distinctive for his strength, both physical and moral – and for his leadership, which always takes us in the right directions.”

Bowdoin College

Jacob attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. There, Jacob brought together many of his previous passions. Jacob was captain of the water polo club team. Jacob hosted and taught at the college ceramics studio. He surfed throughout Maine’s long winters, even traveling North to the chillier waters of Nova Scotia to surf during Thanksgiving break. At Bowdoin, Jacob acquired additional passions for learning Arabic and laboratory research. Jacob applied his Arabic studies to live in Jordan for eight months, providing services to and befriending refugees from wars in Iraq and Syria.

In the Bowdoin laboratory of Professor Bruce Kohorn, Jacob demonstrated unbound curiosity and an excitement, and deep love for science that inspired his fellow students. For his thesis, Jake studied plant cellular adhesion to identify genes essential to the formation and stability of the plant extracellular matrix. In his independent research, he identified a previously unknown genetic allele in Arabidopsis thaliana that is required for proper pectin accumulation and cell wall structure, as well as supporting work in the lab that identified an entirely novel and unknown gene required for proper cell adhesion in plants. Jacob co-authored two publications that came out of this research.

More importantly, Jacob’s peers felt his unconditional support of their endeavors and passions, even, and perhaps especially, if they differed from his own. He championed the achievements of those around him and saw potential in others that they often could not see in themselves. His senior year, Jacob was a student housing advisor and graduated in May 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, with honors.

Icahn School of Medicine

Beginning in August 2020, as the COVID pandemic was stressing the healthcare community and New York City, Jacob commenced studies at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City to realize his dream of becoming a physician. That same month, Jacob’s mother, Christina, unexpectedly died. Jacob preserved in his studies, again embracing his interest in learning and was planning to graduate in May 2025.

One of Jacob’s clinical preceptors during his third-year shared that he “demonstrated a phenomenal attitude, aiming to be helpful where he can and investing in his patients as if they were his own family. Additionally, he had a team-oriented attitude, always looking to help the team with tasks and patient care.” Jacob also found time and motivation to occasionally travel ninety minutes by subway ride to surf at Rockaway Beach and is attributed to sharing this passion with many classmates.

Tragically, on February 14, 2024, Jacob passed away unexpectedly. He leaves behind his father, Doug, and his brother, Owen Dexter-Meldrum, as well as aunts, uncles, and cousins, who love and miss him dearly.