Jack Jackson, a well-known gay activist and one of the original organizers of AIDS Foundation Houston, died at a local hospital July 29. He was 81 years old.

Many knew Jackson as the leprechaun during the annual Bringin’ in the Green fundraiser for the Montrose Counseling Center, where each year he would don on a leprechaun outfit and ask for donations for the center.

“I remember the first year he came to the party,” Ann J. Robison, the counseling center’s executive director said in a prepared statement. “He had strips of fabric around his neck, and he would charm the guests into donating a dollar bill and pinning it to his outfit. He must have collected a couple hundred dollars.”

Robison said she was with Jackson when he passed away.

“Jack Jackson was a friend of ours, a stalwart in our community, and we will miss him greatly,” Robison said. “We wish you well on your journey to the rainbow’s end. May there you know the riches you brought to us.”

Jackson’s philanthropic duties didn’t stop with the counseling center. He also helped raise money for the former Montrose Clinic and the Gay & Lesbian Switchboard.

His volunteer earned him a host of awards and recognition, including being selection Pride Houston grand marshal in 1991 and receiving the Diana Foundation’s Community Service Award in 1986, then-Houston Mayor Kathryn Whitmire’s Community Service Award in 1990, Houston Black Tie Dinner Humanitarian Award in 1995 and Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999 from the Executive and Professional Association of Houston.

Jackson was born in South African and moved to Houston in the late 1950s. Funeral arrangements were pending as of press time.

—staff report

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