MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2009 Regular Session

To: Rules

By: Senator(s) Gollott, Fillingane, Frazier, Horhn, Jackson (11th)

Senate Concurrent Resolution 646

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION COMMENDING THE LIFE OF MISSISSIPPI BUSINESS AND CIVIC LEADER JAMES S. LOVE III OF JACKSON AND BILOXI AND EXPRESSING THE SYMPATHY OF THE LEGISLATURE.

     WHEREAS, Mississippi business and civic leader James S. Love III of Jackson and Biloxi passed away on Monday, March 9, 2009; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Love was born August 4, 1944, in Jackson to Jimmy Love, Jr., and Joe Ellis Buie Love.  In his early life he was a resident of Jackson and Biloxi, living at the White House Hotel in Biloxi in the summers, which was owned by his father.  He attended Duling Elementary, Bailey Junior High and graduated from Murrah High School in Jackson in 1962.  Mr. Love went on to Ole Miss, where he was President of the Ole Miss Business School and President of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, graduating in 1966.  He earned an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia in 1968.  Friends and family say James Love III made it part of his life's work to improve the community and touched countless lives doing so; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Love's career began in advertising at J. Walter Thompson in New York in 1968, but he soon took a job as a securities analyst at Baker Weeks and found his calling.  Mr. Love worked for a number of firms on Wall Street, including Paine Weber and Dean Witter, covering the machinery industry during his 14 years as a securities analyst; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Love became the Chairman of Love Broadcasting Company, owner of WLOX-TV, in Biloxi after the death of his father in 1972.  He took on an active day-to-day role in the company in the late 1970s and eventually devoted himself full time to the company, owned by himself and his sisters, the late Jo Love Little and Mary Eliza McMillan.  He found a great deal of personal fulfillment in the broadcasting business, and the company eventually expanded to include radio stations in Jackson, Mississippi, Savannah, Georgia, and a television station in Medford, Oregon.  The family also owned Lakewood Memorial Park in Jackson; and

     WHEREAS, during his time at WLOX, Mr. Love delivered numerous editorial reviews on the nightly news.  He was the Executive Producer of the Peabody Award winning documentary "Did They Die in Vain" and also "Steps to Nowhere," a documentary of the lasting impact of Hurricane Camille on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  Mr. Love considered his work with the news programs and teams at WLOX and the Peabody Award for "Did They Die in Vain" to be some of his most significant accomplishments; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Love branched out from the family business in 1990 by forming Love Communications Company of Jackson, Mississippi, initially focused on cable advertising, he expanded the company with the visionary program Mississippi News Tonight, a nightly hour long news broadcast covering the entire State of Mississippi.  Although the program ultimately did not achieve commercial success, Mr. Love nonetheless took a great sense of pride in the program and considered it one of the high points of his business life; and

     WHEREAS, in another area of accomplishment, Mr. Love and his sisters, Mary Eliza McMillan and Jo Love Little, restored the Jackson home of their Great-Uncle Major Millsaps into a Bed and Breakfast Inn, the Millsaps Buie House, persevering through a challenging restoration.  He also took on the rejuvenation of the White House Hotel in Biloxi, though that project has not been completed; and

     WHEREAS, outside of the business world, Mr. Love was active in many activities in the State of Mississippi and on the Gulf Coast.  He was the Chairman of the Nature Conservancy in Mississippi, Chairman of the Miss Teen USA Pageant, and served on the Board of the Boys and Girls Club in Biloxi.  He also served on the Board of Trustees of Millsaps College, which was founded by his great-uncle, Major Reuben Webster Millsaps; and

     WHEREAS, "I have no doubt that this is a better world because of him," said Love's lifelong friend, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Rhesa Barksdale of Jackson.  "He was a terrific person in every sense of the word.  He always gave back"; and

     WHEREAS, survivors are his wife, Christine Joachim Gibson-Love of Biloxi; son, James S. Love IV (Jay) and Lessie Leggett of Atlanta, GA; daughters, Caroline Love Bogen and son-in-law Joshua Bogen III of Belmont, NC, and Gillian Meredith Love of Oxford, MS; grandchildren, Josh Bogen IV and Elizabeth Love Bogen; sister, Mary Eliza Love McMillan and brother-in-law, Howard Lamar McMillan, Jr., of Jackson; nieces, including Eliza McMillan Garraway and her husband, Rick Garraway of Jackson, Mary Eliza Aston and her husband, Paul Aston of New York, NY; nephews, Howard L. McMillan III and his wife, Gina of Hay Market, VA, and Robert Ashford Little II and his wife, Catherine of Atlanta, GA; and numerous great-nieces, nephews and close friends; and

     WHEREAS, it is with sadness that we note the passing of this leading Mississippi citizen:

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby commend the life of Mississippi business and civic leader James S. Love III of Jackson and Biloxi, Mississippi, and express to his surviving family the sympathy of the Legislature on his passing.

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to the surviving family of James Love and made available to the Capitol Press Corps.