July 23, 2009
Yesterday, the Memphis City Council voted to name the alley that Jack Tucker saved from the original cobblestones being destroyed
JACK TUCKER ALLEY.
Jack Tucker was honored today at the Center City Commission’s luncheon. Here is the text of the presentation by Andy Kitsinger with Center City:
ON BEHALF OF THE ENTIRE CENTER CITY COMMISSION ORGANIZATION AND THE DOWNTOWN COMMUNITY, IT IS AN HONOR, THOUGH IN AN UNDERSTANDABLY SAD WAY, FOR ME TO PRESENT A SPECIAL AWARD IN MEMORY OF A GREAT CITIZEN, A TRUE PIONEER OF THE DOWNTOWN RENAISSANCE, AND OUR FRIEND… THE LATE JACK TUCKER.
MUCH HAS BEEN SAID AND WRITTEN ABOUT JACK SINCE HIS pASSING A FEW MONTHS AGO. FOR GOOD REASON. HE WAS A MAN WHO LED A VERY RICH AND PRODUCTIVE LIFE, AND ONE FILLED WITH COMMITMENT AND PASSION FOR THE CAUSES HE HELD DEAR. FORTUNATELY FOR US, DOWNTOWN WAS HIGH ON HIS LIST. HE LIVED AND WORKED IN DOWNTOWN MEMPHIS FOR OVER 30 YEARS. AND AS WE REMEMBER HIM, WE WILL REMEMBER HIM MOST FOR THE ROLE HE PLAYED IN BRINGING HIS BELOVED DOWNTOWN BACK FROM DECADES OF DECAY.
WHAT WE HOLD DEAR, AND SUCCEEDING GENERATIONS OF DOWNTOWNERS WILL VALUE, IS JACK’S SPECIAL BRAND OF URBAN WISDOM, AND THE REMARKABLE INFLUENCE IT HAS HAD ON RESHAPING OUR CENTER CITY. EARLY ON, HE DEVELOPED A SENSE OF DOWNTOWN’S FUTURE BOTH FROM AN HISTORIC POINT OF VIEW – HE WAS A PASSIONATE PRESERVATIONIST – AND THROUGH HIS EYES AS AN UNUSUALLY GIFTED, FAY JONES-TrainED MODERN ARCHITECT.
OUT OF THAT CAME HIS UNIQUE ABILITY TO MAKE PEACE BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE NEW, AND TURN THAT OFTEN HARD-WON COEXISTENCE INTO STRIKING, AND LIVABLE URBAN SPACES. THAT WAS JACK’S BRILLIANCE AND HIS STOCK-IN-TRADE.
COUPLED WITH HIS PASSIONATE ADVOCACY AND ENLIGHTENED CONCERN FOR THE PUBLIC REALM – FROM THE THEN-CONTROVERSIAL, BUT NOW HIGHLY POPULAR RIVERWALK TO PRESERVATION OF THE COBBLESTONE ALLEY BEHIND HIS HOME – JACK TUCKER “WROTE THE BOOK†ON THE INSIDE AND THE OUTSIDE OF DOWNTOWN MEMPHIS REDEVELOPMENT. HE WAS TRULY ONE OF THE GREAT URBAN THINKERS AND DOERS OF OUR TIME.
AND SO WE STAND TODAY IN SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF JACK TUCKER. WE GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND APPRECIATE THE LIFE HE LED, AND THE ENDURING LEGACY HE LEFT TO US. DOWNTOWN HAS TRULY LOST ONE OF ITS BEST. I ASK HIS WIFE, CYNDY GRIVICH TO PLEASE ACCEPT THIS AWARD ON BEHALF OF JACK TUCKER, ONE OF DOWNTOWN’S FAVORITE SONS.
