• Former local Republican Party leader Tom Slade and his wife Linda have made a $250,000 donation to the Coggin College of Business at the University of North Florida. The donation, which will be matched by the State of Florida with an additional $125,000, will establish an endowed professorship in the field of entrepreneurial studies.
• Episcopal High Headmaster Charley Zimmer is retiring after the 2006-07 school year and will be succeeded by Dale Regan, who has been with the school since 1978. Zimmer came to Episcopal in 1997 and has led it to record enrollments and fundraising totals, including a $17 million capital campaign. Regan will take the title of Head of School-elect and will lead the search for her assistant.
• Former Jaguars Pro Bowl player Tony Boselli and wife Angi have bought a home in the old Ponte Vedra section. He’s back to oversee business investments.
• Led Zeppelin dissolved years ago, but the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra will pay tribute to the British rock band with a Feb. 11 show: “The Music of Led Zeppelin.” The Zepplin show replaces a “Colin Hay of Men at Work” performance that has been rescheduled for the 2006-07 JSO season.
• Jacksonville University has named Kim Mariani Hernandez, a longtime member of the Institutional Advancement staff, as director of the Office of Alumni Relations. JU also announced the promotion of Patricia Reeves to assistant director of Alumni Relations. Jenny Oldham also joined the Alumni Relations staff as assistant director for clubs and chapters.
• Kind of an odd month for students in Duval County’s public schools as there is not one full week of classes in January and that’s thanks in part to the 2004 hurricane season. Kids had Jan. 2 off as well as Martin Luther King Jr. day on Jan. 16. There are also two hurricane make-up days that were scheduled into the month of January.
• Ten women business owners are the first to complete the “Financial Matters” mentoring program at the Jacksonville Women’s Business Center and will graduate Thursday. The event will recognize each graduate and their mentoring team. The annual program began in July and is designed to provide personalized guidance through existing relationships with accountants and bankers.
• Correction: the children’s program at the Main Library is Saturday, not Jan. 21 as we said in a City Note Thursday.
• The Chamber’s West Council will meet Jan. 20 at the Holiday Inn on Commonwealth Avenue. Jarik Conrad, the executive director of the Chamber’s Blueprint for Prosperity campaign is the guest speaker.
• ImprovJacksonville is taking advantage of its new location inside the Jacksonville Landing. The comedy troupe is offering half-price admission to its shows with a receipt from a Landing or downtown restaurant. ImprovJacksonville hosts shows Wednesday and Thursday at 8 p.m. and twice on Friday and Saturday nights at 8 and 10 p.m.
• Duval County’s Clerk of the Court has been running an ad in our paper saying that the office will “no longer accept... filings by facsimile,” but Clerk of Court Jim Fuller said that’s a bit of a misnomer. The office has never accepted filings by fax, said Fuller. But recently, faxes started rolling into Fuller’s office, prompting the ad.