by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
A recent trip to the Rotary International conference in Salt Lake City, Utah helped give Jack Diamond a whole new perspective on what it means to be a Rotarian. Good thing, too, because as of Monday he’s in charge of the Downtown Rotary Club of Jacksonville, arguably Jacksonville’s most affluent and influential business and civic club.
“While I was in Salt Lake City, there were 15,000 to 18,000 people in one area all with the same basic purpose that life is about giving back,” said Diamond, who addressed the Downtown Rotary for the first time as its 95th president. “You begin to understand. Other countries, they envy what we do in the United States.”
Diamond presented a 2007-08 agenda that includes branching out from what has become the traditional Rotary meeting: lunch at either the Omni or the Wyndham and a guest speaker. Diamond said he’d like to intertwine speakers with presentations, panel discussions and even debates. He believes that if his Rotary club is going to live up to its reputation, its membership needs to become even more informed about the Jacksonville community, what makes it function and how it functions.
“I also want to make us the most informed club in town. That is my thing this year,” said Diamond, senior principal at Rink Design Partnership, Inc. “If we are going to be THE Rotary club, then it should be the best informed Rotary club.”
Over the course of the year, Diamond has arranged for the likes of Mayor John Peyton and U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw to address the club. He’s also after the leadership at all of Jacksonville’s independent agencies: the Jacksonville Port Authority, the Jacksonville Aviation Authority, JEA and JTA. Diamond says the more educated the membership is about how those agencies operate and their value to the community — he calls the Port Authority the “most dominant element in the area” — the better off the club will be as its 100th anniversary draws near in 2012.
“If the club is more valuable to you, then you’ll be more proud of the organization,” said Diamond, who joined Rotary 19 years ago. “The more proud you are, the better the club can be in developing a sense of involvement with each other. It’s service above self.”
Leadership isn’t new for Diamond. During his 35 years in Jacksonville, Diamond has served on several boards. He chaired the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce and is a past vice chair of JTA. He’s a founding member of JaxPride and a past chair of the University of North Florida Foundation, among others.
“He’ll make a good president,” said Guy Marvin, who served as Rotary president from 1993-94.
While the club’s 100-year anniversary is five years away, Diamond also plans to spend part of his tenure as president preparing for the milestone event. He’s looking for volunteers to serve on a committee that will look at the club’s history and the legacies that have been established over 95 years.
One of those legacies may be the club’s Paul Harris Fellow membership. According to Diamond, 100 percent of the club is a member of the group named after the original Rotary club founder. A Paul Harris Fellow is a member that has donated at least $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation.
“Many of our members are Paul Harris Fellows many times over,” he said. “That says something about the people in this club.”
Diamond succeeds Dr. Jerry Knauer and will be followed by Times-Union publisher Carl Cannon. Interestingly, all three have homes next to each other on Ft. George Island.
The rest of the 2007-08 Rotary officers are as follows:
• Cindy Stover — secretary
• Rick Danford — assistant secretary
• Jeff Quaritius — treasurer
• Mark Harbison — assistant treasurer
• Bob Thayer — sergeant-at-arms
The 2007-08 directors are Richard Cassidy Jr., Bryan Cooksey III, Julian Fant III, Guy Marvin IV and Stover.