{"id":150940,"date":"2026-02-11T00:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T00:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/150940\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T00:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T00:38:08","slug":"community-mourns-loss-of-statesman-terry-fields-free-press-of-jacksonville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/150940\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Mourns Loss of Statesman Terry Fields \u2013 Free Press of Jacksonville"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/terry-fields-678x381.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"terry fields\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cand_542.jpg\" alt=\"Candidate Reports\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Terry L. Fields, a respected Jacksonville civic leader and former member of the Florida House of Representatives and Jacksonville City Council, died Sunday at age 66 after a brief illness.<\/p>\n<p>Fields, known for his devotion to public service and mentorship of young leaders, was remembered as a voice for working families and a tireless advocate for his hometown. Terry Fields was a devoted Democrat who represented the 14th District in the Florida House from 2000 until 2008, was born in Jacksonville on April 18, 1959. A graduate of Florida A&amp;M University with a bachelor\u2019s degree in education and graduate coursework at Florida State University, he served on the Jacksonville Civil Service Board and the City Council before his election to the state legislature.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday our city mourns the loss of a dedicated public servant whose work helped shape Jacksonville for the better,\u201d Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said in a statement. \u201cTerry Fields was a mentor, a leader, and a fierce champion for his community. My prayers are with his family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fields was known among colleagues for his ability to build relationships across political lines. \u201cTerry had a remarkable gift for listening and lifting others up,\u201d said Ju\u2019Coby Pittman, CEO of the Clara White Mission, who called Fields \u201ca dear friend and pillar of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During his legislative career, Fields focused on economic opportunity, education and labor issues, drawing from his background as an executive assistant with the International Longshoremen\u2019s Association Local 1408 and his work on local governance. He was elected to the Jacksonville City Council in 1991 and served through the 1990s before his statehouse service, which included representing parts of downtown Jacksonville and western Duval County.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis legacy will live on in the many young leaders he helped and the policies he championed for everyday Floridians,\u201d added community activist Katrina Brown in a social media tribute.<\/p>\n<p>Fields remained active in public life after leaving the legislature, including a 2015 run for City Council focused on job training and human rights initiatives. In recent years, Fields was teaching at Duval Charter School Westside, where he mentored students and helped lead a group focused on uplifting young men. He is survived by his son John Paul Fields and a host of family members.<\/p>\n<p>His homegoing is scheduled for Friday, February 20th at 10:30 a.m. at Macedonia Baptist Church followed by a repast at the Legends Center on Soutel Drive. Funeral services are provided by T.S. Warden on Main Street.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Terry L. Fields, a respected Jacksonville civic leader and former member of the Florida House of Representatives and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":{"0":"post-150940","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-jacksonville","9":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","10":"tag-jacksonville-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}