Sidney J. Gefen Riverwalk Park - Jacksonville, FL
N 30° 19.197 W 081° 40.379
17R E 435300 N 3354431
The Sidney J. Gefen Riverwalk Park is located along the Northbank Riverwalk in Jacksonville, Florida, USA.
Waymark Code: WMTG01
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 11/19/2016
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The Sidney J. Gefen Riverwalk Park has spectacular views of the St. Johns River and downtown Jacksonville. It has pretty landscaping interspersed with a few benches along its brick walkway. The park is named after respected Jacksonville business and community leader Sidney Josef "Sid" Gefen, who died in 2015 at the age of 95.
The following information about Mr. Gefen and the park named after him are from a December 14, 2015, Florida Times-Union (
visit link) news article:
"Mr. Gefen was born in Far Rockaway, N.Y., but called Jacksonville home for 75 years. Regarded as a visionary leader in Florida’s tourism industry, he founded International Productions, a company that staged massive annual international trade shows for the tourism industry.
“… He believed in Jacksonville,” Jaffe said. Last year, she and her father flew to Las Vegas to look at its 550-foot-tall Ferris wheel, which is the tallest in the world and is a major tourist attraction. Mr. Gefen had a vision for Jacksonville to have the tallest Ferris wheel in the country at the city park that bears his name on the north bank of the St. Johns River downtown, she said.
He was current chairman of the Eric Friedheim Foundation, and instrumental in establishing the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute at the University of Florida. In 2011, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Florida College of Health and Human Performance for outstanding service to the tourism and recreation industries. The city of Jacksonville renamed Northbank Riverwalk Park as the Sidney J. Gefen Riverwalk Park in his honor in January 2011. Mr. Gefen also served for 10 years as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Florida Faculty Clinic."