Tommy Hazouri dies at 76

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville political giant Tommy Hazouri is dead, the city announced Saturday.

“It is with deep sadness that the Hazouri family announces the death of our devoted husband and loving father, Tommy Hazouri, on Saturday, September 11, 2021,” the city wrote in a press release. “He spent his last days in peace surrounded by his family and friends; and in the typical way of Tommy, there was no lack of laughter, remembering and bringing loved ones closer. “

He was 76 years old. Tommy Hazouri is survived by his wife Carol and son Tommy Jr.

Tommy Hazouri has been known in Jacksonville, having held four different local and state elective positions for five decades.

Winning his first election in 1974, when Reubin Askew was governor of Florida, Hazouri served 12 years in the state House of Representatives. He served as mayor of Jacksonville for eight years on the Duval County School Board and served his second term in Jacksonville City Council, just finishing a year as president.

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“It’s rare to find a person who has such a varied career in public life,” said former Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney.

Hazouri underwent surgery for a lung transplant at the Mayo Clinic in July 2020, less than a month after taking office as president of the City Council. Last month he returned to Mayo for transplant complications.

Late last month, Hazouri was released from the Mayo Clinic to receive hospital care at home, leaving City Hall people to offer prayers for the man who worked for decades and between them.

“Tommy is a dear friend. He is a mentor. My thoughts and prayers are for him and his family, ”City Council President Sam Newby said last month when he heard Hazouri was entering the hospice’s care.

Hazouri, of Lebanese descent, was born and raised in Jacksonville, attended Andrew Jackson High School and graduated from the University of Jacksonville in 1966. He was married to Carol Hazouri, who spent his career as a teacher at Crown Point Elementary School in Mandarin, where the couple lived.

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They attended the Mandarin Presbyterian Church. They had a son together, Tommy Jr.

GALLERY: Tommy Hazouri through the years

Hazouri was elected to represent Jacksonville’s 20th District in the Florida House of Representatives in 1974. While in the Florida legislature, Hazouri chaired the House Education Committee and was also a member of the funding subcommittee. of the education committee of the chamber. He was appointed by Governor Lawton Chiles to the Florida Ethics Commission and led the sheriff’s mental health work team.

Trying to follow the two terms of iconic Mayor Jake Godbold, Hazouri defeated former state MP John Lewis in a bitter Democratic primary election and then easily defeated Republican Henry Cook to become the third mayor of the consolidated city of Jacksonville in 1987.

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During his four-year tenure, he led a campaign to eliminate Jacksonville’s roads and toll bridges and enforced various environmental regulations designed to eliminate an odor problem in the city. Despite his popular successes, he lost his re-election candidacy to former state prosecutor Ed Austin.

Hazouri would run for mayor of Jacksonville twice more, but lost in the primary election both times. In 2004 he was elected a member of the Duval County School Board and was re-elected in 2008. He was vice chairman of the board in 2008 and chairman in 2009.

MONTH: City, state leaders pay tribute to “true Jacksonville champion” | Jacksonville City Council chambers are named after Tommy Hazouri | Tom Wills: Hazouri was a man of the people

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After six years as a private citizen and president of a private consulting firm, Hazouri and Associates, he ran for general office at Jacksonville City Council in 2015 and was re-elected in 2019.

Returning from surgery, Hazouri chaired the Council for much of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the JEA leadership debacle unraveled and during the Jaguars drove the development of Lot J.

“I’ve covered Tommy Hazouri since 1975, when he was a rookie journalist from Jacksonville and he was a rookie state legislator,” said Tom Wills, News4Jax presenter. “If you’ve ever been to the Mandarin Walmart when Tommy Hazouri was in the store, it was like being at a Walmart with Elvis. Everyone knows him and they want to talk to him and he is always willing to talk to them. Both he and his wife, the school’s teacher, Carol, are loved by so many people here in Jacksonville.

Anchor Mary Baer added that she has often seen him “holding a court” at the Panera in Mandarin.

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