LITTLE ROCK — Jennings Osborne, a Little Rock philanthropist known for his elaborate Christmaslight displays, died Wednesday after complications from heart surgery in April, family attorney and friend Bud Whetstone said.
Photo Gallery
Jennings Osborne
Jennings Osborne, the philanthropist whose extravagant Christmas light displays drew international attention but also a court battle, died Wednesday after a long illness. He was 67.
He was 67.
“Jennings was just a natural-born, world-shakin’ kind person,” Whetstone said. “It was just his nature.”
Osborne, who grew up in Fort Smith and moved to Little Rock with his wife, Mitzi, in 1965, was the head of microbiology at Baptist Health Medical Center and a lab technician at St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center, working around the clock for two years. In 1968, he opened the Arkansas Research Medical Testing Center.
After being robbed at gunpoint outside the center in 1981 with their 1-year-old daughter, Allison Brianne“Breezy” Osborne, the couple built a wall for protection around their Robinwood Drive home in west Little Rock.
http://www.arkansas…">Click here to tell us about your memories of Jennings Osborne.
However, at his daughter’s request, Osborne decorated the wall with an array of Christmas decorations.
A few light strands grew to 2 million red lights that drew lines of spectators and created traffic jams along Cantrell Road.
“He felt there were a lot of poor people that didn’t have the money to enjoy their own Christmas lights,” Whetstone said. “He liked the idea of people making it a family event of where they’d go and see the lights.”
However, what was a yuletide miracle to some became a Grinch-worthy spectacle to others. Though Osborne bought homes on both sides of his property in 1992 to try to lessen the complaints, a lawsuit was filed in 1993 by neighbors who said the lights were a nuisance.
After the Arkansas Supreme Court ordered the display downsized, Osborne continued his decorating mission, stringing lights in dozens of Arkansas cities and Little Rock’s downtown River Market District.
In 1994, Osborne’s 4 million-bulb decorations went to Disney World to be displayed annually as “The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.”
Five years later, 2 million of his lights were displayed at Graceland in Memphis, with a 12-foot Elvis dancing atop a Christmas tree.
“Back in the ’90s, it wasn’t quite like it was now [with Christmas decorations],” friend David Bazzel said. “He was over-the-top then and set a tempo for the rest of the country.”
After the Christmas-light lawsuit, Osborne put his financial support into other large public displays in Arkansas, from fireworks to elaborate pork dinners for fans before Razorback football games where 6,000 pounds of meat were cooked at one time.
Bazzel, who helped organize Osborne’s events for about eight years, said they’d do 25 barbecues a year for anything from games to fundraisers.
Though Bazzel said Osborne “loved to put on a show,” he didn’t just write a check for $50,000 worth of meat, but would often stay up all night cooking and would hand out food.
However, Whetstone said Osborne was more than just flash.
“It would not be unusual at all that he’d read in the newspaper in the obituary column and see a little girl that died and her family” didn’t have money for a funeral, Whetstone said. “He’d call the funeral home and say ‘Put that on my bill’ and he’d pay for the whole funeral. He did a lot of things like that that people didn’t know.”
In a statement released by his office Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Mike Beebe said, “With the passing of Jennings Osborne, Arkansas has lost one of our highest-profile philanthropists. He brought comfort and entertainment to countless people, whether feeding disaster victims, donating fireworks, throwing unparalleled tailgate parties or lighting up Disney World.While a larger-than-life public figure, Jennings was also a kind and soft-spoken man, who always shared his financial success with others.”
In 1999, Osborne gave $53,000 in gifts to friend and former Gov. Mike Huckabee, which included clothes, weekly flowers for the Governor’s Mansion and weekly pastries for mansion staff. Those gifts, along with gifts from other people, led to a 2002 investigation by the state Ethics Commission.
Osborne also remained close with other political figures including Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
“I am deeply saddened by the news of my friend Jennings Osborne’s passing,” Clinton said in a statement Wednesday. “Jennings had a big heart and gave so much to so many people throughout his extraordinary life. From personally providing holiday cheer through his light shows to helping families get back on their feet after natural disasters, Jennings’ capacity to give was truly awe-inspiring ... Like those he lifted up, I consider myself fortunate to have known such a uniquely compassionate man.”
In 2004, Osborne sold his medical testing facility to affiliates of Stephens Inc. formore than $24 million. The company changed its name to Axient Research and closed in 2010.
Osborne sued the Stephens affiliates in 2008, alleging that gross mismanagement led the company to fail, costing him millions of dollars in promised consulting fees. Osborne was awarded $3 million, but that award was reversed by the Arkansas Supreme Courtin April.
Though his generosity sometimes created controversy, Breezy Osborne said her father “showed what a big heart he had for everyone.”
“Sadly my father’s big heart finally gave out. But knowing my ‘Dadoo,’ there will be fireworks at the gates of heaven,” his daughter said.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 07/28/2011