MARK HULSEY Jr.

HULSEY, JR. - Mark Hulsey, Jr. of Jacksonville, a local lawyer and civic leader, died peacefully on Friday, July 22, 2011. A native of Jacksonville, he was born on September 25, 1922, the oldest of four children of Mark and Edna Mae Hunter Hulsey. He grew up on Ortega Point, and attended Ortega Elementary where he was captain of the School Boy Patrol, then John Gorrie Jr. High. At Robert E. Lee High School he was president of his senior class. He received his BA from the University of Florida in 1943, and immediately entered the U.S. Navy. He completed Officers' Training in time to land on Omaha Dog Red Normandy Beach, D-Day, June 6, 1944. As Communications Officer on LST56, Ensign Hulsey subsequently completed more than 100 crossings of the English Channel. He returned to the University of Florida College Of Law, where he was president of Florida Blue Key and was elected to the UF Hall of Fame, receiving his Juris Doctorate in 1948. Having joined the Naval Air Reserve, VP741, in 1947, he was called from his law practice in January 1951 back into active duty in the Korean conflict. He remained active in the Reserve, retiring as Captain, USNR, in 1965. For two decades after Korea, in addition to serving two early years as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, he trained and practiced law with such outstanding lawyers as Chester Bedell, Elliott Adams, Harry Gray, Joe Glickstein and Lloyd Smith. He joined the Smith firm in 1969, later becoming senior partner and retiring as Chairman Emeritus of Smith Hulsey and Busey in 2005. Mr. Hulsey was President of the Jacksonville Bar Association in 1962 and of The Florida Bar in 1969-70, followed by four years in the ABA House of Delegates. He served on the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission from 1972 - 1984, the last two years as chairman, and chaired the Chester Bedell Memorial Foundation from 1981 - 1985. He was a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and of the American Bar Foundation. In 1985 he was a recipient of The Florida Bar Foundation Medal of Honor. The Florida Supreme Court Historical Society made him a Trustee and he was its president in 1992. In 2010 the Society honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award. An active alumnus of the University of Florida, he served on the Law Alumni Council and as a member of the UF President's Council, chaired the Florida Law Center Association in 1985 and was president of the UF Foundation 1992 - 1994. In 1992 he was honored with a Distinguished Alumnus Award. Mr. Hulsey was a communicant of St. Johns Episcopal Cathedral, where he served several times as Senior Warden, and as Chancellor of the Diocese of Florida. He was a Trustee of Episcopal High School of Jacksonville, also Chancellor and later a Trustee Emeritus. For half a century he was on the Board of the Children's Home Society of Florida and state president from 1962 - 65. He was chairman of the Thad and Localee Buckner Foundation from its inception until it merged with the Children's Home Society of Florida in 2002. Active in the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, he headed that organization in 1989. His ten years on the Jacksonville Port Authority included being chairman from 1993 - 1995. An avid sailor who loved both the river and the ocean, he was a long time member and Past Commodore of the Florida Yacht Club. Mr. Hulsey was predeceased in April 2000, by his wife of 54 years, the former June Thornton. Also deceased are his brother Benjamin Hunter, and sisters Edith Shirley and Mary Ellen Sherman. He is survived by his children Mark III and wife Donna, Katherine Anne Hulsey, Mary Ellen Brown and husband William of Baltimore, and John Chancellor and wife Wendy, and by his grandchildren Mark IV and McMillan Hulsey, Copper, Cotter and Peter Brown and Blaire, Paige and Angus Hulsey. A memorial service will be held at St. Johns Episcopal Cathedral at ten o'clock on Saturday morning, July 30, 2011, followed by a reception at the church. In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully suggests memorial gifts to St. Johns Cathedral or the charity of the donor's choice. Please Sign the Guestbook @ Jacksonville.com