JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Allison DeFoor, the Episcopal priest and former judge who spent his later years fighting to save Florida’s open land, died this week at 72. He led the North Florida Land Trust. The Jacksonville-based land trust said he died Tuesday after a short illness.
DeFoor joined the trust’s board in 2018, three years after moving to Jacksonville. He became interim president in 2022 and was named to the job permanently the next year. He was known for a favorite line, now or never, which he used to argue that the state’s wild places were vanishing and could still be saved.
His resume ran far beyond conservation. A seventh-generation Floridian, he was elected a county judge at 28 and later served as a circuit judge. He worked as a prosecutor and a public defender, taught law, and served as sheriff of Monroe County. In 1990 he ran for lieutenant governor on Gov. Bob Martinez’s ticket.
Under Gov. Jeb Bush he was the state’s Everglades czar. He later co-chaired the Amendment 1 land and water campaign with former Gov. and Sen. Bob Graham, a measure voters approved with 74% of the vote. He also gave more than 10 years to his church’s statewide diocese, including prison ministry and almost eight years as a top aide to the bishop.
City Council member Matt Carlucci shared the news at the end of Tuesday’s council meeting and called DeFoor one of the finest public servants he had known. DeFoor’s wife, Randy DeFoor, is a former council member. Mayor Donna Deegan said the city had lost a remarkable public servant.
Memorial arrangements have not been announced.
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