Ed Austin

Austin was born in Shenandoah, Virginia. In 1944 he enrolled at Duke University, where he played college football as a tight end and ran track for the Duke Blue Devils. He earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree while at Duke, and was subsequently employed as a teacher. He later joined the United States Army, where he served in the 101st Airborne Division as a paratrooper.[1]

Austin was hospitalized with a back injury; in the hospital he met his future wife, Patricia Lynch, an Army social worker.[2] In 1957, he was honorably discharged as a first lieutenant, and relocated to attend law school at the University of Florida.[1]

Austin received a juris doctor from the UF College of Law in 1958, and was admitted to the Florida Bar on November 6, 1959.[3] He worked in several legal positions, including a stint as Duval County's assistant solicitor. In 1963, he was appointed by Governor Farris Bryant[2] as the first Public Defender for Florida's Fourth Judicial Circuit, which consists of Duval, Nassau, and Clay Counties. In 1969, he was elected State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit. Jacksonville Mayor Hans Tanzler appointed Austin to serve as the city's General Counsel in 1972, but he returned to the State Attorney position in 1974 and was re-elected four times.[1][4]

In 1991 Austin resigned his position as State Attorney to run against incumbent mayor Tommy Hazouri, and won the election narrowly and became Jacksonville's 4th mayor since consolidation. His most lasting contribution as mayor is his River City Renaissance program, which funded urban renewal and revamped the city's historic downtown neighborhoods. Among the buildings constructed or renovated by the program are the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts, the Sulzbacher Center, the stadium now known as EverBank Field, and the Jacksonville Zoo. Austin oversaw the city's purchase and refurbishing of the St. James Building, which would eventually become Jacksonville's new city hall. He was mayor at the time Jacksonville was awarded its National Football League franchise, the Jacksonville Jaguars.[1] His support was instrumental in the founding of the Jacksonville Children's Commission and growth of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.[5]

During his term as mayor he switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican; according to his chief of staff John Delaney, he told his staff before leaving on a trip to China that he had become so disenchanted with the Democrats that he did not want to die as one if his plane crashed.[1] In 1994, he announced he would not seek a second term as mayor. In the subsequent election he backed Delaney, who defeated former mayor Jake Godbold to become the next mayor of Jacksonville.

Austin was an imposing figure, a "strapping John Wayne-kind of guy", according to Delaney, who first worked for Austin as an intern in the early 1980s.[1] His staff considered him a fair man with integrity and character who motivated his co-workers and mentored those he hired.[1] Numerous individuals Austin hired and mentored went on to leadership positions in Jacksonville and the state of Florida, including Delaney, currently President of the University of North Florida; former Chief Justice Leander Shaw of the Florida Supreme Court, former general counsel Rick Mullaney, state Representative Mike Weinstein, Circuit Judge Brian Davis, Sulzbacher Center President Audrey Moran, and Chief Administrator Lex Hester.[1][6][7]

Austin and his wife had three children and nine grandchildren. His wife of 39 years, Patricia, died in a car accident near St. Augustine in 1996; he was a passenger and was also injured, but recovered. In 2003, he married Connie Green; they divorced in 2006. The Ed Austin Regional Park in Arlington was dedicated in 2005,[8] and a $150,000 endowed scholarship was established at the University of North Florida during 2008 in his honor.[9] His grandson Austin Slater played college baseball at Stanford University and plays for the San Francisco Giants as of 2021.

Austin was recovering from heart surgery several weeks prior, but had not experienced complications. He died in his sleep on April 23, 2011.[1][7] At his funeral on April 28, the casket was carried by an honor guard members from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department. Samuel Johnson Howard, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida delivered a eulogy, former Mayors John Peyton, Jake Godbold, Tommy Hazouri and John Delaney attended the service.[5]

• Ed Austin Regional Park