Florida Senate - 2013                            (NP)    SR 1902
       
       
       
       By Senators Lee and Joyner
       
       
       
       
       24-04991A-13                                          20131902__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution remembering the life of Tampa’s own, the
    3         Honorable James “Jim” Albaugh Lenfestey.
    4  
    5         WHEREAS, Jim Lenfestey was a second-generation Tampa
    6  native, born into one of Tampa’s pioneer families, and attended
    7  Gorrie Elementary, Wilson Junior High, and Plant High School,
    8  and
    9         WHEREAS, Jim Lenfestey received his B.A. degree from George
   10  Washington University in Washington, D.C., and his J.D. degree
   11  from the University of Florida College of Law, where he became a
   12  member of Phi Delta Phi, an international legal honorary
   13  society, and
   14         WHEREAS, after 16 years of general law practice in Tampa in
   15  the firm he established, Jim Lenfestey was elected to the 13th
   16  Judicial Circuit Court in 1966 following a hotly contested
   17  three-way race and served for 24 years on the bench before
   18  “retiring” to pursue more than a decade of active service as a
   19  mediator, and
   20         WHEREAS, during his tenure as a circuit judge, Jim
   21  Lenfestey was elected chairman of the Florida Conference of
   22  Circuit Judges and served two terms as chief judge of the 13th
   23  Judicial Circuit, receiving the Robert W. Patton Outstanding
   24  Jurist Award from the Hillsborough County Bar Association, Young
   25  Lawyers Section, and
   26         WHEREAS, after 10 years on the bench, Jim Lenfestey was
   27  pleased to receive the highest approval rating of any judge in a
   28  Hillsborough County Bar Association lawyer opinion survey, and
   29         WHEREAS, for many years, Jim Lenfestey’s favorite pastime
   30  was teaching college classes in business and constitutional law
   31  at the University of South Florida, the University of Tampa,
   32  Hillsborough Community College, and other local campuses, and
   33         WHEREAS, Jim Lenfestey was a veteran of World War II and
   34  attained the rank of colonel in the United States Army Reserve,
   35  and served as a member of the Fort Stewart/Hunter Army Airfield
   36  Retiree Council, and
   37         WHEREAS, Jim Lenfestey led and was active in a variety of
   38  legal, professional, civic, and charitable organizations and
   39  endeavors, and he and his beloved wife of 54 years, Laurel White
   40  Norden Lenfestey, who predeceased him, were faithful members of
   41  First Presbyterian Church, where he served as a deacon and elder
   42  and, for decades, taught an adult Sunday School class, and
   43         WHEREAS, Jim Lenfestey will long be remembered for his
   44  wisdom, wit, work ethic, courtesy, and interest in others, many
   45  of whom he served as a mentor to, NOW, THEREFORE,
   46  
   47  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   48  
   49         That we pause to remember the life of the Honorable James
   50  “Jim” Albaugh Lenfestey, recognize his indelible mark on the
   51  Hillsborough County legal community, and extend our deepest
   52  sympathy to his family and friends.