Joe S. Frank Mayor Term Expires June 30, 2010 Contact Information

• Newport News Public Schools
• Graduated Newport News High School in 1960
• B.A., Foreign Affairs (with honors) University of Virginia, 1964
• L.L.B., University of Virginia Law School, 1967

• Virginia Army National Guard, 1968-1974

• Admitted to Virginia State Bar, 1967
• Member, Virginia State Bar
• Member, Newport News Bar Association
• Practiced law in Newport News continuously since June 1967

Awards/Honors:

• Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Citizen Award - Citizen of the Year
• National Conference of Christians and Jews Humanitarian Award
• Colonial Virginia Council Boy Scouts of America Good Scout Award
• The Honorable Order of St. Christopher, American Hero Award and Honorary Member, U.S. Army Transportation Corps Regiment

Biography:

Joe attended the original Jefferson Elementary School, then the "new" Jefferson Elementary School, in the second and third grades, Walter Reed Elementary School on Wickham Avenue, and Newport News High School from which he graduated in 1960.

At age 11, he joined the Boy Scouts, moving through the ranks quite rapidly, ultimately becoming an Eagle Scout. He also served in numerous leadership positions in the Scouts, rising to Senior Patrol Leader and Assistant Scout Master.

While in high school, Joe was very active in numerous school organizations, including the Speech Arts Club, the National Honor Society, and the Key Club, and was elected President of each group. He was an announcer for the Typhoon Marching Band and held various positions in the Student Council Association. He participated in many speaking and writing contests and earned State-wide recognition in connection with those. He was also President of the Young Leadership Council of the Jewish Community.

In the fall of 1960, he continued his education at the University of Virginia where he was an active member of Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity, the Jefferson Society, and numerous other student organizations. He was honored by the University by being selected to live on the Range, in a room next to the one that had, in generations earlier, been occupied by Edgar Allen Poe. He was also honored by his fraternity with its highest national award for leadership and community service. He was on the University Honor's Program concentrating in foreign affairs and political science and received his Bachelor of Science degree with Honors in 1964.

Joe then attended the University of Virginia Law School and graduated with an LLB degree in June 1967. During this time he interned at the prestigious Charlottesville, Richmond, and Washington law firm of Battle, Neal Harris, Minor and Williams, a firm headed by former Virginia Governor John Battle. He graduated with an LLB degree in June, 1967.

Following graduation, he returned to Newport News to practice law with the late Frank Pitchford. He was admitted to the Bar in 1967 and since he has been a practicing attorney on the Peninsula in Newport News. His primary areas of practice include personal injury, litigation, corporate and business law, wills, estates, trusts, and condemnation law. He is a member of the Newport News and Virginia Bar Associations.

During the early years of his career, he continued his lifetime interest in community service. He chaired the Newport News Democratic Party and was an early chairman of the Oyster Point Development Corporation. During his tenure, a master plan was instituted, initial financing was arranged and the beginning of development was achieved. He served as legal officer of the Hampton Roads Jaycees and participated in many of their projects.

Joe was also heavily involved in the Jewish community, becoming president of the Jewish Federation of the Virginia Peninsula, as well as President of his synagogue, Rodef Sholom Temple. The Jewish community recognized his service and leadership by awarding him both the Theodore Beskin Scholarship Award and the Emmanuel Greenspon Young Leadership Award.

From 1968 through 1974, he was a member of the 4th Battalion 111th Artillery of the Virginia Army National Guard.

In 1988, Joe Frank was elected to the Newport News City Council, a position to which he has been reelected since. He served as Vice Mayor from 1988 to 1990, and again in 1996. He currently holds the position of Mayor of the City of Newport News, having been elected in May 1996 and re-elected in May 1998 and 2002. He was the first directly elected Mayor in the City's history.

Joe Frank has continued his commitment to community service as a member of the Board of Directors of the Hampton Roads Partnership; a member of the Virginia Peninsula Mayors and Chairs; and served as a member of the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport Task Force.

He has served as Chairman and Vice Chairman of both the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission and the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Planning Organization, appointed to both positions by his colleagues on City Council to represent the City of Newport News. He also served as Chairman of the Hampton Roads Mayors and Chairs Caucus.

He is a former member of the Newport News Advisory Committee on Base Realignment and Closure; a former President, founder, and board member of Homebase of the Virginia Peninsula, Inc.; a past Vice Chairman of the Newport News Youth Risk Prevention Committee; a former Chairman of the Newport News Advanced Research Center Committee, a committee appointed by City Council to develop and implement the City's partnership with CEBAF and to create the Center's research and development park; a former member of the Joint Legislative Task Force on Transit Financing in Hampton Roads; a former member of the Hampton Roads Third Crossing Coordinating Committee; and a former member of the Hampton Roads Public Transportation Alliance and the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport Task Force.

Joe is married to Jane Susan Glasser Frank. Their family includes daughter, Shelly Ann Currin, her husband, Douglas Currin, and their children, Justin and Jessica; daughter, Melissa Jean Clagg, her husband, Jeffrey Clagg, their sons, Brooks and Bryce, and daughter, Madison; and a son, Jason G. Frank, his wife, Jennifer Ritko Frank, and their daughter, Sydney, and son, Carson.