John Newton's Obituary
John Daniel Campbell Newton II, 73, died Monday, Sept. 8. John was a sixth-generation Floridian, the proud father of a feisty daughter, an attorney who fought for justice and, at the end of his career, an administrative law judge. He had a special spark and sense of humor that connected people and earned him many friends. A celebration of life will be held Oct. 12, 4-8 pm at the Retreat at Bradley’s Pond, 9002 Bradley Rd, in Tallahassee. Guests are asked to wear bow ties and/or tropical attire as a tribute to John.
John loved to cook, camp, run, sail, gather with his neighbors and organize adventures among his close-knit friend groups. Shell Point, St. George Island, and Highlands Hammock were his happy places.
John was a well-known fixture in the Tallahassee political and legal scene, sporting a bow tie and always up on the latest happenings. He battled Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis for the past several years, which unfortunately forced him to cut back on his busy social and professional life, as well as his sailing hobby.
John’s ancestors were founders of the Panhandle’s Walton County, where the first John Daniel Campbell Newton taught abolitionist literature and values. John was born in Nashville on Aug. 19, 1952, to Kathryn Dorothy Dusenberry and Robert Quarterman Newton. After his father’s early death, his mother married John Welch Fisher, who became a beloved stepfather to John and his four siblings. The family moved to Avon Park, Florida, where John grew up.
John was a proud product of the Florida public education system – and an avid volunteer and booster for it. He knew early that he wanted to be a lawyer. He attended South Florida Junior College in Avon Park and got his undergraduate degree at Florida State University. At FSU College of Law, he served as a member of the Law Review and graduated with honors in 1977.
Admitted to The Florida Bar in 1977, he practiced in public service and private firms and served as a mentor to many. In the year 2000, he was part of one of the highest profile legal cases in the world, as a member of Al Gore’s legal team in the election recount case, Bush v. Gore. He was chosen as a Florida Trend Legal Elite in 2007 and 2009 and won the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers’ S. Victor Tipton Award for Appellate Writing in 2001.
He clerked for Florida Supreme Court Justice James C. Adkins, who was a great mentor and friend, and for United States District Judge Lynn C. Higby. He served as an assistant public defender, as Senior Assistant Attorney General responsible for litigating civil rights and economic crimes matters at the Office of the Attorney General, and later became General Counsel for the Agency for Persons with Disabilities. He joined the Division of Administrative Hearings as a judge in 2009, retiring in 2024.
His civic activities in Tallahassee were many. He served in volunteer and board roles with the NAACP as a Life Member and Co-Chair of the 2002 Freedom Fund & Awards Banquet, the Martin Luther King Day Celebration Committee, the Florida First Amendment Foundation, the Lafayette Park Neighborhood Association, the Leon High School Parent Teacher Organization, the Fairview Middle School Parent Partnership Group, the Kate Sullivan Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization and School Advisory Council, Girl Scout Troop 757 Adult Member and Cookie Coordinator, City of Tallahassee Police Chief Selection Committee, Capital Tiger Bay Club, Tallahassee Museum of History and Natural Science Board and Audit Committee, County Charter County Commission, Battered Women’s Clemency Project, Executive Council for the Administrative Law Section of The Florida Bar, Co-Chair for People for Better Government, the Tallahassee/Leon County Consolidation Commission, the Tallahassee Animal Shelter Control Board and the Apalachee Bay Yacht Club.
“John was the best dad I could have asked for,” says daughter Colleen Newton. “He spent his life advocating for justice and taught me so much – educating me on things like Florida’s civil rights history that they didn’t teach us in school, and cheering me on when I spoke out against injustice too. My dad was my biggest supporter, and I am so lucky to have always had that unconditional love. He built himself up from so little and worked so hard to give me a good life and be a good dad, and for that I am forever grateful.”
John was predeceased by his mother, Kathryn Dorothy “Tim” Dusenberry Newton Fisher; his father, Robert Quarterman Newton; his stepfather, John Welch Fisher; his sister, Lani Wigand; brother Walter Newton; and half-siblings Bob Newton and Maggie Goforth.
He is survived by his daughter Colleen Newton; his sister Bobbi Newton Wigand; his partner Mignon Deshaies; Colleen’s mother Julie Hauserman; nephews Joseph Wigand (Casey) and Michael Newton; half-sisters Marcia Hellerman, Mary Newbill, Nancy Shaver and Dixie Sansom; niece Savannah Newton and nephew Tim Newton; Broward County Circuit Judge Christopher B. Wigand (Tara), other distant nieces, nephews and cousins, and many dear friends who will miss him dearly.
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