Maxwell School gives Horizon Award to Joseph A. Strasser

The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs has chosen Joseph A. Strasser as a recipient of its Horizon Award. The award was presented in a recent ceremony in the Joseph A. Strasser Commons in Eggers Hall. It recognizes Strasser’s outstanding career as a public servant as well as his generosity and extraordinary financial commitment to the school, which has enabled significant improvements to the Strasser Commons, the Joseph A. Strasser Academic Village and the entrances to Eggers Hall.

Strasser graduated cum laude from SU in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree in history. After serving as a finance officer in the U.S. Army, he returned to Maxwell to earn a master’s in public administration in 1958. Dedicated to improving public finance in municipal governments, he was the first budget officer of Savannah, Ga., where he was nominated as “Young Man of the Year”; he later served the city of Jacksonville, Fla. Among other achievements, he introduced the position of a civilian, professionally trained fiscal administrator into fire and police departments in the South.

Since retiring, Strasser has devoted himself to philanthropy and community service. In addition to the Maxwell School, his key interests are the First Coast No More Homeless Pets (its clinic is now located in the Joseph A. Strasser Animal Health and Welfare Building in Jacksonville, Fla.), and the Jacksonville Humane Society and Animal Shelter.

The Maxwell School Horizon Award was established to recognize wise, inspirational, volunteer leadership combined with exceptional philanthropic commitment. The school has only given the award five times in its history–most recently to SU trustee Howard Phanstiel– in appreciation of the support donors and alumni have provided to the Maxwell School and its mission of advancing citizenship, scholarship and leadership around the world.