November 8, 2010

Carbondale (IL) Mayor Brad Cole is the new Chair of the International Board of Directors of Sister Cities International (SSI). He will serve from August 2010 through the end of July 2012. Cole has a strong interest in international development, has participated in international group exchanges, and is an active member of The Conference of Mayors International Committee. He is the first incumbent local official to occupy this position since 1980. Sister Cities facilitate nearly 2,000 partnerships between 600 U.S. communities and cities in 136 nations on six continents.

Former Kalamazoo (MI) Mayor Robert Jones died on October 17 after a long battle with cancer.

Jones, 66, served four terms as Kalamazoo's mayor from 1997-2005 and was a member of The U.S. Conference of Mayors. He was a research chemist and chemical production supervisor with Pharmacia and Upjohn in Kalamazoo for 28 years.

He was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2006, and was running for election to represent the Michigan Senate's 20th District this November.

In an interview earlier this year, Jones said he became involved in public affairs after reflecting on his years growing up in the segregated South. He was born in Jeffersonville (GA) near Macon. "I was 16 when JFK was elected president in 1960, and I look at Kennedy's election as the point where I became interested in politics," he said.