Janet G. Owens, who had been the executive director of LISC Jacksonville since 2010, passed away Wednesday following a long battle with cancer.
The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) announced her passing on its website:
She was surrounded by her closest family members. The entire LISC family mourns the loss of Janet and we extend our deepest sympathies to her family and friends. Janet was a tremendous driving force in advancing LISC Jacksonville’s mission and work in our urban communities. She will be remembered as an inspirational community leader, advocate and trustee. She will be dearly missed.
In 2019, Mrs. Owens received the University of North Florida’s OneJax Humanitarian Award in recognition of her integrity and dedication to improving human relations among diverse local groups.
Leadership Jacksonville recognized Owens as an outstanding community trustee during its 2018 Leadership Celebration.
She also received the Women of Distinction Award for her career accomplishments and commitment to community service by the Girl Scouts of Gateway Council in 2009.
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry called the passing of Mrs. Owens “sad news for the City of Jacksonville.” In a tweet, he wrote, “Janet has been a community servant in Jacksonville for decades and her legacy lives on through the countless lives she has impacted along the way.”
Sad news for the City of Jacksonville today. Janet Owens, Executive Director of LISC Jacksonville, passed away early this morning. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family, friends and colleagues.
— Lenny Curry (@lennycurry) April 8, 2020
LISC praised her tenure, saying Mrs. Owens' leadership helped improve access to quality education, increase family income and wealth, create affordable housing, spur economic investment and development, and foster safer and healthier neighborhoods for thousands of urban residents.
In 2016, Mrs. Owens told WJCT News that LISC helps attract developers by securing funding through a national lending pool. Lowering the risk for developers gets things built in areas where the private market doesn’t want to invest, she said.
“Our goal is to make neighborhoods places where anyone coming into the Jacksonville community would want to live,” she said in that 2016 interview.
“Janet was a phenomenal community leader whose passion for helping our most vulnerable neighbors was rooted deeply in her soul, and she radiated that passion to everyone around her,” said J.F. Bryan, IV, former Chair of the LISC Jacksonville Advisory Board from its founding in 1999 to earlier this year.
Mrs. Owens was a guest on First Coast Connect with Melissa Ross in February. Host Melissa Ross tweeted this tribute on Thursday:
Life is fleeting. People are with you one day, shining their light, and gone the next. Here is a photo of the late Janet Owens of @LISCJax and J.F. Bryan, when they appeared on #FirstCoastConnect @WJCTJax just a few weeks ago. We lost Janet this week. RIP to a wonderful person. pic.twitter.com/jf54nKxNam
— Melissa Ross (@MelissainJax) April 9, 2020
On the program, Mrs. Owens credited former Mayor John Delaney and the city for a successful rapport.
"(Under) the partnership that existed, LISC would be helping the neighborhood with recevelopment and the construction of homes, and the city would be bringing in the infrastructure and utilities," she said.
Related: Listen to the February 12, 2020 interview with Mrs. Owens
LISC's board of directors expects to announce a succession plan soon.
Mrs. Owens’ responsibilities are being handled in the interim by Richard Manson, LISC national program vice president.
LISC said the arrangements for a memorial service will be announced at a later date. Mrs. Owens was 67, according to WJCT News partner The Florida Times-Union, which reported she was born in 1953.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
