Oxford set to welcome its 62nd Lord Mayor
Councillor James Fry is set to take up office as the 62nd Lord Mayor of Oxford.
Councillor Fry is expected to take over the responsibility from Councillor Mark Lygo, who has served as Lord Mayor of Oxford since November 2020.
The provisional appointments of Councillor Mark Lygo as Deputy Lord Mayor, and Councillor Mike Rowley as Sheriff of Oxford, have also been announced. All three will carry out charity fundraising and represent the city at official events throughout their terms.
The provisional appointments to the three posts were announced at the Council meeting on 16 February. The appointments will now go before the Annual Council meeting on 18 May for approval.
The new Lord Mayor
Councillor Fry was educated at New College (MA Mathematics and B Phil Economics) and Nuffield College Oxford (D Phil Economics). He taught economics at Magdalen College and founded LMC International an international consultancy in the economics of agriculture, working at its head office in Oxford.
Councillor Fry was elected to the City Council in May 2012 and has represented North ward / Walton Manor ward for 10 years. Cllr Fry chairs the Audit and Governance Committee and the Scrutiny Committee’s Finance and Performance Panel, which undertakes an annual review of the Cabinet’s budget proposals. He is married to Councillor Susanna Pressel.
Councillor Fry said: “When Susanna was Lord Mayor, I saw what a wonderful opportunity the role offers to get to know more about the city where we have lived since student days. It will be an honour to do so in the year of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. That will provide a special occasion on which to celebrate the city, its people and its institutions.”
The Lord Mayor’s charities for this year will be Aspire, Asylum Welcome; and Emmaus.
The Lord Mayor generally carries out more than 300 engagements each year. These cover a wide range, from Royal visits and leading the City’s annual Remembrance Sunday service, to small community group meetings and charity events.
The first recorded Mayor of Oxford is Turchillus, who held the honour between 1122 and 1123, and mayors’ names stretch in an unbroken line until 1962, when the dignity of the Lord Mayor was granted to Oxford by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
