JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — *The above video was originally published July 26, 2021.
Dr. Leon Haley moved to Jacksonville in 2017 to serve as dean of the University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville. In 2018, he was chosen as the hospital's first Black CEO in its history.
Haley was killed in July after being ejected from a personal watercraft in Palm Beach Inlet.
Haley will likely be heavy on his son's mind Sunday.
Grant Haley, a cornerback for the Los Angeles Rams will be suiting up against the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.
When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, Dr. Haley took an active role in the fight against the virus. In December 2020, the Pittsburgh native became the first in Florida to get the COVID-19 vaccine inspiring many others to do the same.
He believed in leading by being the example.
"His last day at the hospital, he was giving vaccines here on one of our surgical floors," Chad Nielsen of UF Health remembered. "He walked the walk and he talked that talk."
"His reach was immeasurable," Mia Jones, CEO of Agape Community Health Clinic, told First Coast News. "He might have been small in statures, but his reach was one that covered this community."
