22
EVENTS
STETSON LAW WELCOMES 2 NEW
MEMBERS TO HALL OF FAME
Richard O. “Dick” Jacobs and Dr. Madison M. Mosley Jr.
were inducted into the prestigious Hall of Fame on
Dec. 9, 2020. For the past 16 years, Stetson Law has
honored distinguished luminaries in the legal and academic
arenas at its annual Hall of Fame event. This year’s event was
virtual and shared live on YouTube because of the pandemic.
Richard O. “Dick” Jacobs, J.D. ’67
Prior to attending law
school, Jacobs spent
nearly a decade building
a highly successful career
in the life insurance
business. He later
became a tax attorney
and co-founded a law
firm that grew to about
100 lawyers and
multiple locations. He
served as Chair of the
Tax Section of The
Florida Bar.
In the late 1970s, he joined clients in forming Park Bank of
Florida, which eventually became a public company. When it
began to flounder, Jacobs took over as CEO in hopes of righting
the ship. However, the bank failed in 1986. It was the biggest
learning experience of his life, and he wrote a book, “Crash
Landing: Surviving a Business Crisis,” in an effort to understand
how it happened.
Jacobs decided to pursue new projects in venture travel and
environmental conservation. His journeys took him to the seven
continents and opened his eyes to how much of the rest of the
world lived. In 2015, he published Wonderlust, a book of his
photography and lessons learned from crisscrossing the globe.
His conservation work brought Dick back to Stetson Law for
many fruitful collaborations. In 2016, he and his wife created
the Dick and Joan Jacobs’ Environmental Law Externship Fund
to provide financial assistance for students. In 2020, he
launched The Stetson Environmental Tax Policy Writing
Competition for students to develop innovative tax law policies
to fund solutions for sea level rise. His vision for Stetson Law
continues to expand, with the creation of a Center for
Environmental Justice underway.
Amid all his traveling and philanthropic work, Jacobs had
returned to practicing law with Holland & Knight, then
Trenam Kemker with a focus on health care law. He was editor
and prime author of “Health Care Law – Mergers and
Acquisitions of Physician Practices” and was ultimately named
to Best Lawyers in America and a Florida Super Lawyer for his
work in this area. He currently is on staff as Senior Counsel at
Johnson Pope Bokor Ruppel & Burns, LLP.
Madison M. Mosley Jr., J.D. ’92
Prior to attending Stetson,
Mosley earned a bachelor’s
degree in library science
and English from Florida
State University in 1971, a
master’s degree in library
science from the University
of North Carolina at
Greensboro in 1974, and a
doctorate in library science
from Florida State
University in 1980.
He spent his early
professional career in various librarian roles before becoming
director of the library at Florida Community College in Avon
Park. He was an active member of the community, serving two
years on the Avon Park City Council before moving to St.
Petersburg to attend Stetson Law, where he earned the best
speaker award in his research and writing section. He joined the
Stetson Law staff after graduation, serving as reference librarian
and associate director before being appointed library director in
February 2001.
Mosley served as co-chair of the St. Petersburg Citizens Review
Committee for the Police Department, and the parliamentarian
of the city’s African-American Voter Education Committee. He
was an active member of the American Library Association and
the ALA’s Black Caucus; the American Association of Law
Libraries and the AALL’s Southeastern Chapter; the Florida
Library Association; the Association of College and Research
Libraries; the Pinellas Public Library Cooperative; The Florida
Bar; and the National Bar Association.
Mosley’s most prolific work was as an executive board member of
the Florida Library Association. He was named to the
organization’s Transformers Honor Roll in 1996 for his efforts to
improve the quality of service to library users. He served as
president from 1999 to 2000. He moved to establish a standing
committee on leadership development and recognized the need
for electronic access to FLA information.
Mosley was considered a leader in the field who made significant
contributions to libraries and librarianship. He mentored many
students and other librarians throughout his career. Mosley continued
these efforts and his service as library director until his unexpected and
untimely death on March 29, 2005, at the age of 55.