Jane N. Golub, a businesswoman and philanthropist whose many works included a decades-long battle against bullying and intolerance, died Tuesday afternoon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after battling a brief illness. She was 80.

Golub, who served in various leadership positions at Price Chopper Supermarkets and Golub Corp. in Schenectady, is perhaps best-known for her volunteer educational and philanthropic efforts, which helped shape several of the Capital Region's health care and educational institutions.

Golub was born Dec. 10, 1938, and went to Bronx High School of Science for two years before her family moved to Queens, where she graduated from Forest Hills High School in Queens in 1956.

She attended the University of Michigan, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in English, and in 1965 earned her master’s degree in elementary education from SUNY Oneonta.

She and her husband Neil Golub, who also attended Michigan, were married in 1963, and she taught third grade in the Niskayuna Central School District for 23 years, retiring in 1986.

Jane Golub started a second career in business and joined her husband at Price Chopper Supermarkets and Golub Corp. Her duties included manager of samples and sales, director of vendor marketing programs and director of in-store marketing programs.

She also served as the educational coordinator for “A World of Difference,” a project led by the Anti-Defamation League of the Capital Region.

"The purpose is to increase the awareness of prejudice and thereby reduce it — also, to appreciate the differences, instead of just the ways in which we are all alike," she told the Times Union in 1988.

The multicultural program was adopted by public schools and businesses statewide, and sanctioned by the State Education Department.

In 1994, Golub said the initiative "allowed me to stretch and expand well beyond my career to writing curriculum on a statewide level and reaching out to leaders who are no longer just a name on a letterhead to me.''

She was also an avid golfer who amassed a large golf ball collection that she displayed in her office at the Golub Corp.

“I'm a golfer, left-handed, with a 30 handicap,” she told the Times Union in 2002. “I always wanted to have a collection of something. I'm not a thimble type of person. I add to the golf ball collection every year. People pick up golf balls with food logos and come see me if it's not already in the collection.”

A cancer survivor, Golub was always physically active, and would golf and go the gym well into her late 70s.

Alongside her husband, Golub took a central role in many charitable endeavors in the Capital Region. The couple were named to the inaugural class of the Capital Region Philanthropy Hall of Fame, which was recently created by the United Way of the Greater Capital Region.

The couple helped raise tens of millions of dollars for Ellis Hospital, and donated millions of their own wealth to the hospital and countless other area charities over the years.

Golub's work was recognized by the Girl Scouts of America, the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce and The Woman’s Fund.

Among many awards the couple have received, the Golubs were awarded the University at Albany Foundation’s Citizen Laureate Award in 2007.

Jane Golub served on many local non-profit boards, including Schenectady Day Nursery, MiSci science museum in Schenectady and others.

Her daughter, Mona Golub, followed her into the family business and the philanthropic realm, building a reputation as a tireless supporter of the arts in the Capital Region.

Memorial plans were not immediately available.