John Delaney

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For other uses, see John Delaney (disambiguation).

John Delaney

John Adrian Delaney (born June 29, 1956) is an American politician of the Republican Party. He was the mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, serving two consecutive terms from 1995 to 2003. After being succeeded by John Peyton in July 2003, Delaney was appointed president of the University of North Florida.

Delaney was born in Lansing, Michigan and was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. His family moved to Jacksonville when he was 16. He graduated from Terry Parker High School and attended the University of Florida, where he joined Delta Upsilon fraternity and received a B.A. and a law degree. Delaney served as Jacksonville's General Counsel and as chief of staff to former mayor Ed Austin before being elected mayor himself. He defeated former mayor Jake Godbold to become the first Republican elected to that office since 1888.

During his mayoral term, Delaney was noted for launching the "Better Jacksonville Plan," a massive, $2.2 billion package of projects for municipal improvements funded by a sales tax increase, as well as the Preservation Project, a series of land grants for parks. He was one of the most popular mayors in Jacksonville's history, enjoying consistently high approval ratings and running unopposed for his second election. In 2003, he received the President's Conservation Achievement Award from The Nature Conservancy for the Preservation Project.

Delaney's time as President of UNF has so far seen a surge in building projects, including a new Student Union building and a new Social Sciences building, as well as a proposed slate of new programs to build UNF according to the master plan. [1] Under his leadership, the university has launched a flagship program designed to identify its top programs.

Delaney and his wife Gena married in 1980. They have four children; Bill, Adrian, Meg, and Jimmy.