Career
Austin received a juris doctor from the UF College of Law in 1958, and was admitted to the Florida Bar on November 6, 1959. He worked in several legal positions, including a stint as Duval County's assistant solicitor. In 1963 he was appointed by Governor Farris Bryant 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.
In 1991 Austin resigned his position as State Attorney to run against incumbent mayor Tommy Hazouri, and won the election narrowly. 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. His support was instrumental in the founding of the Jacksonville Children's Commission and growth of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.
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. 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. His staff considered him a fair man with integrity and character who motivated his co-workers and mentored those he hired. 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.
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