Edgar Jones Jr. Lifetime Service Award

The Kelley A. Bergstrom Real Estate Center announced the first Edgar Jones, Jr. Lifetime Service Award at its annual Trends & Strategies Conference at the Waldorf Astoria Orlando on March 15, 2019.

The award is named in honor of Edgar Jones Jr., a long-time South Florida real estate executive and former Bergstrom Center Advisory Board member.

“This award and recognition is very special,” Jones said. “I have truly enjoyed my efforts to promote the real estate program at the University of Florida and to mentor the students in the program. I have made many wonderful friends over the years and certainly have received more in return than I gave. I am very proud of what has been accomplished over the years, building the program from a handful of board members and virtually no budget to one of the top programs in the country with 160 top professionals on the Advisory Board.”

Jones served 25+ years on the Bergstrom Real Estate Center board, including as the board’s Chairman. While also serving on the Center’s executive committee, Jones mentored dozens of students, presented in the classroom and at the center’s events, and hosted a monthly breakfast for other Center advisory board members in Miami.

Jones is the Founder and CEO of Edgar Jones & Company in Miami, a real estate development consulting firm. He is consulting with Canadian developer Triple Five, who is developing the largest mall in America in Miami. The $4 billion project on 175 acres expects to attract 30 million visitors a year. Before Edgar Jones & Company, he was Vice President and Regional Development Officer for the Rockefeller Group, who is famous for developing Rockefeller Center and the Time-Life Building in New York. He has been in the real estate business for over 40 years.

“It is very important to have a well-educated and professional workforce supporting the real estate profession,” Jones said. “Our business has come a long ways in great part due to programs such as our MSRE program. Everyone wins if we have professionals in our business.”

Jones also received an Honorary Alumnus of the Year award from the UF Alumni Association during the conference.

Jones is a lifelong Gator. His father, Edgar Jones, was a star football player for the Gators in the 1920s and was later inducted into the UF Athletic Hall of Fame. His father also served as the UF Athletics Director from 1930-1936. His late wife, Susan (1967), and his oldest son, Cooper (2001), graduated from UF’s College of Journalism and Communications.

“While I didn’t go to the University, I was brought up a Gator by a father who was a legend at the University,” Jones said. “I remember so well his loyal support of the athletic program and its many athletes. It was a great example of how to support a program and its students. I remember him writing letters to football players who had a bad day. He tried to encourage them to get past those disappointing times by focusing on the next game.”

Recipients

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  Rich Bezold

  Partner, Akerman, LLP