February 4, 1952 \u2013 March 1, 2026<\/p>\n
Jacksonville\u2019s environmental communities are mourning the loss of Mark Middlebrook alongside his friends and family after his passing on March 1 in Spring City, Tennessee. He was 74 years old.<\/p>\n
Mark was born on Feb. 4, 1952, to his parents, George Bruce and Ione Lageson Middlebrook, in Buffalo, New York. In 1963, he moved to Richmond, Virginia, where he met Gayle, the love of his life, right next door. He graduated from Meadowbrook High School. In 1971, Mark was drafted into the United States Army; he would go on to serve in the U.S. Army and the Virginia National Guard. He and Gayle married on June 1, 1972.<\/p>\n
In 1981, Mark earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from the University of Virginia, launching his journalism career at the \u201cGloucester Gazette-Journal\u201d as a reporter and photographer. He worked at the \u201cNewport News Daily Press\u201d as a reporter as well before relocating his family to Jacksonville, where he accepted a position at the \u201cFlorida Times-Union.\u201d Mark became an award-winning investigative journalist, rising to the role of editor and serving briefly as an on-air reporter for WJXT Channel 4 News in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
It was during his time on Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney\u2019s staff that Mark discovered one of his life\u2019s great passions: land preservation. Mark spearheaded the City of Jacksonville\u2019s Preservation Project as its executive director, laying the foundation for what would become the Timucuan Parks Foundation and building one of the nation\u2019s most impressive urban park systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are profoundly grateful for all he did for us and for Jacksonville,\u201d said Timucuan Parks Foundation Board Chair Bob Hayes. \u201cBecause of Mark\u2019s leadership, thousands of acres of environmentally sensitive land will remain protected for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark served as executive director for the Timucuan Parks Foundation until his retirement in 2024. He pursued his passion for land preservation, working with other organizations, including the St. John\u2019s River Alliance and the North Florida Land Trust.<\/p>\n
\u201cMark was a giant, and his legacy will be seen for generations yet unborn,\u201d said North Florida Land Trust President and CEO Allison DeFoor. \u201cRest in Peace, friend, rest. Your work is done, but your gift will live on.\u201d<\/p>\n
His proudest accomplishment was being a father to his three sons, to whom he imparted a deep love of nature and the outdoors along with a passion for American history.<\/p>\n
He is survived by his wife, Margaret Gayle Middlebrook; his three sons, Michael Stephen Middlebrook and his wife Tara Middlebrook, Mark McClay Middlebrook and his wife Andrea Robin Middlebrook, and Jon Lageson Middlebrook; and five grandchildren, Madison Lee Middlebrook, Cole Murphrey Middlebrook, Makenzie Lee Middlebrook, Mason James Middlebrook, and Samantha Blaire Middlebrook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"February 4, 1952 \u2013 March 1, 2026 Jacksonville\u2019s environmental communities are mourning the loss of Mark Middlebrook alongside…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-218005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218005","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=218005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}