James C. Hunt is a six-term councilman and former Mayor of Clarksburg, West Virginia. He serves in a variety of local, state and national leadership positions. He also serves as the Executive Director of the Sunnyside Up-Campus Neighborhood Revitalization Corporation in Morgantown. During his twenty-two year elected tenure in Clarksburg, he has had a leadership role in projects worth hundreds of million dollars such as the FBI relocation and the new Municipal Building.
Born on November 2, 1950, Hunt and his brother and two sisters grew up in Clarksburg. Their father, Rex B. Hunt was an employee of the Clarksburg Public Works Department. Their mother, Marian Hunt worked as a medical technologist at St. Mary’s Hospital and later for Dr. Lynwood Zinn. Hunt attended Holy Rosary Grade School, Linden Grade School, Central Junior High School and Notre Dame High School in Clarksburg.
In 1968, Hunt entered West Virginia University majoring in Secondary Education. He worked at the WVU speech department for the late Dr. Leonard Davis and considers Dr. Davis as a mentor and inspiration. He also achieved a childhood dream by playing on the WVU basketball team under Coaches Bucky Waters and Sonny Moran. He joined the Kappa Sigma Fraternity as a sophomore and was a basketball referee throughout his college years.
Hunt graduated from WVU in 1973 with a Bachelors degree in Secondary Education and a minor in Speech Communication. He then entered WVU Graduate School in Special Education. He worked for Dr. Franklin Parker as a graduate assistant and did research for two of Dr. Parker’s many books on education. Dr. Parker recommended Hunt as a delegate to a World Summit for Youth in Petrozavodsk, USSR in the summer of 1973. This trip led to an interest in the USSR and Hunt traveled to Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union several times in the following years. A highlight was a trip to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, USSR.
Jim in the Peoples Republic of China
Jim Hunt with Sonny Moran, Coach of the WVU Basketball Team in 1969
In 1973, Hunt accepted a position as a Learning Disablity Specialist in the Harrison County School System. He traveled throughout the county administering tests to students and worked with Mrs. Betty Richards in the Reading Clinic. After a two and one-half year career in the school system, Hunt left to open a franchised automotive business at the age of 26.
He entered politics by running for one of three seats on the Harrison County School Board. He finished 5th in a field of 16. After an unsuccessful race for the West Virginia House of Delegates, Hunt was elected to the Clarksburg City Council in 1985. Hunt found that he had a love for municipal service. He rose in the ranks of the West Virginia Municipal League, becoming President in 1996. He also was elected to the Board of Directors of the National League of Cities and currently serves as President of the National League of Cities . James Hunt has held more leadership positions on a state and national level than any other municipal official in the history of West Virginia.
From May 21-31, 2000, Jim had the opportunity to participate in the Millennium Mayorthon, which was a cross country event to promote organ and tissue donation. Jim traveled through Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri meeting with city officials and speaking to thousands of people on the importance of informing family members of their wishes for organ and tissue donation.
In 2001, Hunt traveled to Wroclaw, Poland to assist in the building of eight homes for low income residents of Poland through the Global Village Program of Habitat for Humanity. As part of an international team, Jim was deeply moved by a visit to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland.
In March of 2002, Jim was selected to be one of seven city officials from throughout the United States to participate in a study tour of the Peoples Republic of China. The tour was sponsored and paid for by the United States State Department and was coordinated by the National Committee for United States-China Relations. He visited four cities and met with top level Chinese officials to discuss city planning issues.
In 1999, Jim Hunt joined with former Mayor Pastor David Kates to form The Unity Project. This effort has allowed Hunt and Kates to travel throughout the United States and abroad speaking about civil rights. They have developed a program which is presented to schools throughout West Virginia to address issues of diversity and racial justice. In 2003, Jim Hunt and Pastor Kates led a statewide effort to keep an innovative program called the Civil Rights Team Project in West Virginia schools. This effort was covered in several educational magazines and the New York Times and led to the reversal of the State Board of Education and the reinstatement of the Civil Rights Team Project.
Professionally, Jim Hunt worked for the West Virginia Housing Development Fund for over 16 years before accepting the position of Executive Director of the Sunnyside Up organization. He has worked on projects throughout Northern West Virginia and played a pivotal role in the relocation of the Fingerprint Division of the FBI to West Virginia. He also directed the Demolition Program for the Housing Fund which successfully removed hundreds of vacant and dilapidated houses from throughout West Virginia.
