Tommy Hazouri, a fixture in Jacksonville’s political scene the past half century, will be released from the Mayo Clinic on Wednesday and return to his home under hospice care, according to a statement from his office.
“Tommy deeply appreciates all the thoughts, well wishes, and prayers from the Jacksonville community,” the statement said. “While his lungs may be failing him, his heart remains full for the people of this city. The Hazouri family asks that you continue respecting their privacy in this difficult time.”
Hazouri, 76, was admitted Saturday to Mayo for complications from a lung transplant he received a year ago.
Earlier:City Council President Tommy Hazouri out of ‘successful’ lung transplant surgery
Back on the job:Tommy Hazouri returns to Jacksonville City Council president role after lung transplant
Hazouri came back from that July 2020 surgery to serve as City Council president for an eventful one-year term through the end of June.
He was hospitalized at Mayo Clinic on Saturday for complications from the lung transplant.
HIs fellow City Council members ended their Tuesday meeting with a prayer for his recovery.
“The city would not be the city it is without this man,” City Council member Kevin Carrico said. “All of that service leads to a wonderful career that we want to honor and bless and ask again, Lord, for a miracle, for healing.”
Tommy Hazouri: “I’ve really been blessed”
Hazouri is one of Jacksonville’s most well-known officeholders from 33 years in the state Legislature, the Duval County School Board and City Hall.
The Democrat was a state representative from 1974 to 1986, mayor from 1987 to 1991, School Board member from 2004 to 2012, and City Council member since 2015. He has said he viewed his time as council president as a “last hurrah” for his political career and credited the lung transplant with allowing him to fulfill those duties.
He underwent the transplant in July 2020 a few weeks after being sworn in as council president. He relinquished the gavel while recovering from the surgery and returned to City Hall in September.
He said upon his return the transplant motivated him to make the most of his time as council president and his push for an “era of enlightenment” on tackling racial disparities in the city.
“To have a new lung is a gift from heaven and I’ve really been blessed,” Hazouri said at the time. “I was given the lung for a reason and it’s given me a new lease on life. I don’t know how long I would have been here if I didn’t have that lung replaced.”
During his time as mayor, he won voter support for a half-cent sales tax for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority that resulted in JTA eliminating tolls from several bridges. He also pushed for regulations that cut odor pollution, enabling Jacksonville to shed its reputation as the “city that stinks.”
City Council member Matt Carlucci said Tuesday during the council meeting that Hazouri “is a great friend to all of us, even when he fusses with us, even when he jokes with us, and he’s at a delicate time in his life.”
