Jim Stork
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Jim Stork (born November 3, 1966) is an American businessman and politician from Florida.
Stork was born in Gainesville, Florida and grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and moved to New York City, where he became a salesman for Campbell Laboratories. Stork successfully landed Campbell's flagship product, the Herpecin cold sore remedy, on the shelves of Wal-Mart, which won him a promotion to chief operating officer. He briefly became president of the company in 1995 following the death of its founder: the company was then liquidated in keeping with the founder's will.
Around the same time, Stork broke up with his life partner of seven years, Ray Pardue, starting a brief but livid battle between the two that was eventually halted by restraining orders. After another lengthy court dispute over the disposition of Campbell's assets, Stork won a large golden parachute from the company, which he used to start a restaurant (Stork's Cafe and Bakery) in Wilton Manors, Florida. The restaurant became popular after its opening in 1997, and Stork became a popular figure in the city's large gay community. He was elected mayor of Wilton Manors in 2002, succeeding John Fiore. Wilton Manors thus became the first city in the United States to elect two consecutive openly gay mayors.
Shortly after his election, Stork became romantically involved with Ron Ansin, a well-known Bostonian philanthropist and Democratic fundraiser. After Stork announced his candidacy for Congress in 2004, running for the seat of incumbent Clay Shaw, Ansin helped the campaign by soliciting many large donations from prominent out-of-state Democrats. Stork dropped out of the race in September because of a problematic heart condition.
