extraordinary people

College’s second dean John Paul Jones Jr. dies

	John Paul Jones Jr.

For decades, John Paul Jones Jr., JM 1937, was an important force in journalism at the University of Florida and throughout the state and nation. The former dean of the College of Journalism and Communications, 1968-1976, died Sept. 12 in Gainesville. He was 89.

Jones was a freelance writer, reporter, newspaper association leader, poet, scholar, journalism teacher and administrator, textbook writer, civic leader and magazine publisher.

Born in Micanopy in March 1912, he attended and graduated from public schools in Gainesville. He graduated from UF in 1937, earning high honors in journalism.

	John Paul Jones lectures about his magazine
	with son Johnny
	with Gannett's Al Neuharth at building dedication in 1980

He later earned an M.A. in journalism from the University of Wisconsin and pursued Ph.D. studies in history and political science at the University of Illinois.

Jones taught at Illinois from 1939 until 1946, with a three-year interlude in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He came to UF as an associate professor of journalism in 1948 and was promoted to professor in 1951.

He succeeded Rae O. Weimer as dean of the College of Journalism and Communications in 1968. It was during his tenure as dean that the Gannett Foundation made a $1 million challenge grant leading to the construction of the $6.3 million building that opened in 1980.

Jones was a leader in the newspaper industry. For 16 years he served as secretary-manager of the Florida Press Association and was editor of Florida Press, the association’s magazine. He worked for newspapers in Gainesville, Palatka, Richmond, Va., Urbana, Ill., and Madison, Wisc.

Upon his retirement as dean, he continued to teach and served as graduate director in 1977-78. He was a visiting professor at Cornell University in 1978-79.

He was a prolific writer. As a freelance writer for more than 30 years, his articles appeared in many of the nation’s best magazines. He authored five journalism textbooks and published three volumes of poetry. In 1981, he fulfilled a life-long dream of publishing a magazine when he created Guide to North Florida Living (later North Florida Living and now Florida Monthly). He ran it until 1997.

He wrote two novels based on his own family history. Cold Before Morning was the story of his pioneer family, beginning with their journey to America from Scotland in 1854 to the early settlement of Florida in 1913. The sequel, What Tomorrow Brings, is a memoir of his life through 1997.

John Paul Jones Jr. John Paul Jones Jr. was one of 11 students in the first public relations class taught at the University of Florida in 1934. Jones built a boat, the “Lazy Bones,” in his backyard and used it for faculty fishing trips on the Suwanee River. The Departments of Advertising, Broadcasting (later renamed Telecommunication), Journalism and Public Relations were organized while Jones was dean. In his later years, Jones drove a red Nissan 280Z sports car.

He served the Kiwanis organization as lieutenant governor of the division and state treasurer.

He was in the initial class inducted into the Florida Press Association Hall of Fame in 1989 and was named an alumnus of distinction of the College in 1982. He was national president of the journalism scholastic honorary, Kappa Tau Alpha.

He is survived by a son, John Paul Jones III, PR 1975; two daughters, Judy Glenn and Letty Rayneri; five grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife of 55 years, Marion, in 1992.

deaths

	James Jesse

James Jesse

James Jesse, the former Gannett publisher who is credited with having initiated efforts leading to the gift of $1 million for construction of a new building for the College, died April 27 in Merritt Island. He was 82.

Jesse spent 40 years in newspapering, including a quarter century in Florida. Coming to Florida in 1954, he was editor and publisher of the Punta Gorda Herald (now the Herald News), then was publisher of the Knight-owned Boca Raton News. He joined the Gannett Company in 1967 and was the first publisher of TODAY in Cocoa. He was later president and publisher of the Pensacola News Journal and the Nashville Banner.

The College sponsored an annual “James H. Jesse Lecture on Management in Communications” from 1984-1996.

	Katie Lewis

Kathryn A. “Katie” Lewis

Kathryn A. “Katie” Lewis, administrative assistant to three deans in the College from 1953-1986, died July 15 in Gainesville. She was 81.

She handled personnel and budget matters for many years. The late Dean Rae O. Weimer referred to her as his “Girl Friday.”

She is survived by a son, Fred H. Lewis; two daughters, Cynthia Jones and Toni Kay Wilson; and seven grandchildren and one great grandson.

Editor’s Note: The Celebration 2000 issue of the communigator named Jones, Jesse and Lewis among its “29 Extraordinary People” who shaped the School/ College in its first 75 years.