INTERVIEW WITH DAISY AND JUAN LYNUM: LIKE MOTHER, LIKE SON
continued from previous page

This leads us right back to Commissioner Lynum’s relationship with her sons. In the end, Mom would still have her way. Juan was living in Spain during the time the Commissioner was instrumental in reopening the new FAMU College of Law in Orlando (40 years after it was closed on the Florida A & M Campus in Tallahassee).

Although he had been gone for nine years, Lynum insisted that he return to the states and enroll in the inaugural law school class. At first, Juan resented his mother’s interference, but he did it; however, not without a price. Said Commissioner Lynum, “The evidence that he is back is seen throughout the house––books everywhere, lots of young adults coming and going and total surrender of my computer. I had over 4000 unread emails when I deleted them several weeks ago.”

“Juan has begun to transition into an adult very similar to me,” said Commissioner Lynum. “I am a lifelong learner and have attended and graduated from several colleges and universities. I like traveling and so does Juan. Having lived in Spain and attended college there, he now speaks fluent Spanish…Juan loves to dress well–– I wonder where he got that from?” she chuckled.

Juan shows signs of evolving into one who loves to find solutions to problems that effect the quality of life of world citizens as well as African Americans. He is truly an “Up and Comer” who is preparing to run for the Orange County District Six seat in 2006. Term limits prevent current Commissioner Homer Hartage from seeking re-election.

In December 2002, Juan started the Juris Scholar Foundation, where he currently serves as Chairman and Executive Director. The Foundation’s mission is to raise money for minority and disadvantaged law students.

Shortly thereafter, he became Mayor Buddy Dyer’s highest paid campaign consultant, leading the Mayor into victory in March of 2003. Juan was then appointed by the Mayor to serve on the Parramore Task Force to develop a plan to revitalize the community.

While still in law school, Lynum incorporated his father’s construction company, becoming President of Lynum and Lynum Construction, a company with over 50 years experience building home in Lake and Sumter counties. Former state representative Bill Sublette appointed him to the leadership council of the Howard Phillips Center for Children & Families.

In the spring of 2004, he was selected to Gray Robinson’s law clerk program. In the fall of 2004, Mayor Dyer appointed Lynum to the city of Orlando Board of Zoning Adjustment. Orange County Mayor Crotty and County Commissioner Homer Hartage appointed him as the district six representative on the Orange County Community Development Advisory Board. He was selected by Shutts & Bowen’s litigation law clerk program last fall and the spring of 2005.

Juan recently started Excel Development, LLC. to build low-income housing in the Parramore area. He also recently incorporated Orlando Black Pages, Inc., where he is launching the ‘Orlando Black Pages’ as an enterprise organization of the African American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida, the Black Business Investment Fund, and the Urban League of Central Florida.

In stark contrast to his brother Juan, the Commissioner’s oldest son, Sean, is introverted and shy. Described by his mother as the ‘studious professor-type,’ he too is bilingual. Says Lynum of her boys, “Both were taught piano by Gloria Green, but neither plays well.”

A federal agent, Sean is much like his mom - he is a prolific reader, obsessive about cleanliness and a devoted husband and father. The commissiner describes his wife Mercedes (who hails from Columbia) as “a wonderful daughter-in-law.” The couple has a daughter, who was in the care of Commissioner Lynum while Mercedes was serving in Iraq in 2003. Says the Commissioner, “Sean owns every jazz and popular music CD ever made. Both are excellent computer/technology buffs, having been introduced to the computer at very early ages. Sean will probably always be a bureaucrat.”

Commissioner Daisy Lynum is a proud mother, because her sons have made her so. Says she, “They are like me and also like their father. The most important part is that they have taken the best of each of us and grown into absolutely genuine gentlemen, Christians, and good citizens.”   Back to beginning