Mississippi College Trustee Wayne Parker Dies

Wayne Parker

A successful Jackson businessman devoted to many charitable causes and a strong supporter of Mississippi College, MC trustee Wayne Parker died Friday after a battle with cancer.

MC leaders say Parker was a dedicated leader and man of faith who will be missed by the Christian university’s family.

“Wayne Parker gave to many causes at MC and throughout our community,” President Lee Royce said Monday. “But his real pleasure was in helping individuals in need and in helping them achieve success in life. He leaves a great personal and Christian witness to the world.”

As an MC trustee, chairman of the board and contributor to scholarships, the university’s new Physician Assistant program and creator of a special fund to meet the emergency needs of international students, Parker went above and beyond to help on the Clinton campus.

“May we learn to follow his example,” Royce said. “Wayne Parker was much loved and will be greatly missed by the MC family.”

Dr. Bob Philpot, chairman of MC's Physician Assistant Studies Department, joins those saddened by the news of his passing.

In honor of Parker's generosity and support of the PA program, students in the inaugural class created the Wayne Parker Student Leadership Award. It goes to an outstanding student each semester.

“His memory will live on in the hearts and minds of our faculty, staff and students,” Philpot said.

During the last ten years of his life, Parker’s time, resources and energy was devoted to The LifeShare Foundation which helps meet needs in the lives of some of Mississippi’s most underprivileged and disadvantaged children. The private Jackson-based foundation’s missions stretched from providing assistance to children at the Mississippi Schools for the Blind and Deaf and the Magnolia Speech School. He championed the LifeShare Community Ministry, an inner city ministry for children at risk.

During his business career, the University of Mississippi alumnus developed and invested in real estate projects in Mississippi and outside its borders. He served on the board of directors of several publicly traded companies, banks and civic organizations.

Colleagues say the energetic 69-year-old Texas native was an extraordinary leader and invaluable member of the Mississippi College Board of Trustees.

“Wayne Parker was one of the most interesting, generous and engaging men I ever met,” said trustee Andy Taggart, a Ridgeland attorney.

“Wildly successful by an human measure, he was also devoted to the support and success of enterprises of more lasting value, and his commitment to changing and building young lives at Mississippi College will bear fruit for generations to come,” Taggart added.

Born in Marshall, Texas on June 7, 1942, Parker moved shortly after his birth to Jackson, Miss. and graduated from the capital city’s Murrah High School in 1960. The 1964 Ole Miss alumnus obtained an MBA degree from the University of Texas in Austin in 1965 and received his juris doctorate from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1968. He joined his father in the real estate development business in Jackson after law school and stayed active in it for the past 46 years.

Involved in leadership positions in numerous charitable organizations, Parker was a former member of the National Board of Directors of the American Diabetes Association and was co-chairman, with Paul Volcker, of the 50^th Anniversary National CURE Champaign for the American Diabetes Foundation. He was a member of the Mississippi Electoral College that elected President George Bush in 2004.

In 2008, Parker was the recipient of the Mississippi College Alumni Association’s Award of Excellence that recognizes non-alumni supporters of the university.

Parker was also passionate about working with his church. He was a member of Northminster Baptist Church in Jackson for 44 years. He was a member of the church’s Board of Deacons and the Men’s Sunday School class.

Survivors include his wife of 44 years, Zeita Redfield Tupper Parker, and two children, Rick Parker of Jackson and Zeita Parker Jones and three grandchildren, Tyler, Audrey, and Matthew Jones, all of Nashville, Tennessee.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the Pastors’ Benevolence Fund at Northminster Baptist Church or to a favorite charity. The funeral was to begin 2 p.m. Monday January 9 at Northminster Baptist Church at 3955 Ridgewood Road.