John Marshall "Jack" Ford (May 18, 1947 – March 21, 2015) was an American Democratic politician who served as the mayor of

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

, from January 2002 to January 2006. Ford was Toledo's first African-American mayor.

Biography

A graduate of

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, Jack Ford received his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit est ...

and his law degree from the

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a public research university in Toledo, Ohio. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, which includes the University of ...

. He spent most of his working life as an educator, teaching primarily at the

for 22 years, but also at

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...

and

Owens Community College Owens Community College (OCC) is a public community college with campuses in Toledo and Findlay, Ohio. Owens was founded in 1965 in Toledo and chartered in 1967. The Findlay campus opened in 1983. Owens Community College is named after Micha ...

. Ford served in the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in Ch ...

for seven years, and was Democratic leader of the Ohio House for the final three. He was a speaker at the

2000 Democratic National Convention The 2000 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention for the Democratic Party. The convention nominated Vice President Al Gore for president and Senator Joe Lieberman from Connecticut for vice president. Th ...

. Ford served on the Toledo City Council. In November 2001, he was elected Toledo mayor, replacing another Democrat, Carty Finkbeiner who, four years later, on November 8, 2005, was returned to office, defeating Ford in his re-election bid. On March 7, 2006, media reports revealed that Ford would be returning to

as a practitioner-in-residence in the

College of Arts and Sciences A College of Arts and Sciences or School of Arts and Sciences is most commonly an individual institution or a unit within a university that focuses on instruction of the liberal arts and pure sciences, although they frequently include programs and ...

effective March 13, 2006. According to reports, Ford will mostly teach in the department of political science. In June 2007, Ford was selected to fill a vacancy on the Toledo Board of Education. In his public career as a legislator and city executive, Jack Ford was responsible for the creation of the Toledo Youth Commission, the lead abatement program, the medication education for the elderly program, the Toledo curfew law, and the

drug paraphernalia "Drug paraphernalia" is a term to denote any equipment, product or accessory that is intended or modified for making, using or concealing drugs, typically for recreational purposes. Drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methampheta ...

law. He founded two organizations dealing with drug and alcohol addiction. He was also a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Ford died the morning of March 21, 2015 at the age of 67.

References

External links

Website of the City of Toledo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Jack 1947 births Ohio State University alumni University of Toledo alumni Bowling Green State University faculty University of Toledo faculty 20th-century African-American academics 20th-century American academics Educators from Ohio African-American state legislators in Ohio African-American mayors in Ohio Mayors of Toledo, Ohio Place of birth missing Ohio city council members School board members in Ohio Democratic Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives 2015 deaths Politicians from Springfield, Ohio 21st-century American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians