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Photo courtesy of Mark Krancer

Rick Pariani joins MPA Board of Directors

Rick Pariani, Avondale resident, joins Memorial Park Association Board of Directors

Memorial Park Association welcomes Frederick “Rick” Pariani, Jr. as a new member of its Board of Directors. Pariani, who will serve a three-year term, fills a vacant board position and will serve as chair of the Landscape and Grounds Committee.

“Twenty years after moving to North Florida in 1997, we found an architectural wonder in Avondale and an even more wonderful neighborhood,” said Pariani. “Memorial Park Association serves with pride and compassion to ensure the beauty, prominence and heritage of our community’s most cherished example of public commons, crafted by our nation’s first landscape architects. I hope to serve the Association commensurate with their legacy of stewardship of the great Olmsted Brother’s 1924 park design.”

Pariani holds a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Georgia and retired from a 42-year career in regional, national and international project design, primarily in Georgia and Florida. His projects have included retail/commercial/office developments, resort and entertainment venues, residential and mixed-use communities, recreation, parks and golf course focused amenities, as well as environmental and public-sector projects, and preservation and public-access initiatives.

Projects of local note include World Golf Village in St. Augustine, where Pariani was design and development director from 1997 to 2012 for the project’s common areas, as well as pro bono community work for the Episcopal School of Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Country Day School, West Riverside Elementary School, Hemming Park, and Boone Park, among several other projects. Additionally, Pariani has worked on a golf course in Taiwan; Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as other 1996 Centennial Olympic venues; Universal Studios, Orlando, and Fountain Plaza, Fort Lauderdale, among others. Pariani is also serving as a board member for Riverside Avondale Preservation. He is a former board member of Friends of Hemming Park, and a former member of the Emerald Trail Steering Committee and of the Cultural Council of Jacksonville’s Art Selection Panel.

“Rick’s outstanding credentials and his involvement with the Riverside Avondale neighborhood made him an obvious choice to fill the position and allow us to tap into his vast experience in landscape architecture,” said Tim Burleigh, MPA president.