Tributes flood in for highly respected, wise and calm Councillor

Tributes have poured in from across the political spectrum and public life in honour of Councillor John Jackson who sadly passed away last Friday, 24 October.

Enfield Council’s leader Cllr Mike Rye said: “John was an outstanding public servant who faithfully served on Enfield Council for the past 40 years.

“His contribution to the development of the Borough and its business life has been immense. He served the Borough twice as Mayor and each of those years were resounding successes, with large sums raised for charity.

“John’s commitment to the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority where he had again served for many decades was vital to the Park’s development and the successful bid for the Olympics in 2012. John was respected by politicians of all backgrounds both within Enfield and across London.

“I was very privileged to be a close friend of John and his wife Sylvia for the past 20 years. We will all miss his wisdom, and friendship. Our thoughts are with Sylvia, their son Mark and the family at this sad time.”

Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Jeff Rodin said: “Despite our political differences, I always found John Jackson easy to work with and someone who always had the best interests of the borough in mind. I had immense respect for him and his death is a sad loss for all of Enfield’s communities.”

Shaun Dawson, Chief Excecutive of Lea Valley Regional Park said: “The Members and staff at the LVRPA are deeply shocked and saddened by the passing of John Jackson. John had been a Member of the Authority for 30 years serving as Chairman for 10 years.

“His calm and pragmatic leadership, along with his passion and commitment to the Authority have been instrumental in creating the LVRP we see and enjoy today. John was quite simply a man who was very highly regarded and respected by all those who had the pleasure to know him.”

Cllr Jackson served the Borough as Mayor in 1984/85 and 1990/91. He was the Deputy Mayor and was very much looking forward to becoming Mayor next year. He was awarded Freeman of the City of London in 1986 and made a Freeman of the Borough of Enfield in 2003. He had been a Justice of the Peace since 1985.

He was born on the 24th February 1943 and lived in Enfield all of his life and was married to Sylvia. They have one son Mark and two grandchildren. He had been active in politics since he was 18, he was elected in 1968 to represent residents of St Alphege Ward and he represented the residents in Bush Hill Ward for many years. He was very proud of the fact that he was the longest continuously serving Member of the Council and that he had served as a governor on Waverley and Latymer Schools for many years.

His great interest was regeneration and employment in Enfield and surrounding areas. This interest is reflected in the various chairmanships and committees that he served on over the years on the Council. Within the Council he had been a Cabinet Member with responsibility for Sustainability, Employment and Regeneration for the past six years.

John was instrumental in setting up the Enfield Enterprise Agency during his Mayoral year in 1984 and he has continued to support it since then.

John had a long association with the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, which began in 1978. He was very much involved with the Park’s development and had been the current chairman of The London Lee Valley Olympic Steering Group since 1994.

His main interests were electronics, physics and town planning. By profession he was a consultant working mainly on digital remote guidance systems.

Cllr Jackson's funeral will take place on Thursday, 13th November at 11am in St Andrew's Church, Market Place, Enfield Town.

Refreshments will be made available afterwards at the St Andrew's Parish Centre.

The family have requested there to be no flowers and any donations to be made c/o Co-operative funeral services, 119 Lancaster Road, Enfield.

This document was last updated on 2008-10-29 14:23:12 published by the Communications team. Document Reference:LBE_133491