John “Jay” Ellison Amos III, 52, Vero Beach
John “Jay” Ellison Amos III, husband, father, son, brother, friend, leader and mentor passed away on his 52nd birthday, Jan. 24, 2020, after a difficult and valiant fight against cancer. His wife, Alex, and his family, were by his side.
Jay was born on Jan. 24, 1968, in Charleston, W. Va., to John D. Amos and Susan Barth (Amos) Dobbs.
He exuded a brilliance and twinkle in his eye that captivated you immediately, and an infectious exuberance that at once enchanted and mesmerized you.
From a young age, he cultivated a love of the outdoors and the limitless possibilities and freedom it afforded him. He rode horses, snowmobiles and motorcycles with a gleeful abandon so it came as no surprise to anyone when Jay wanted to get his pilot’s license at 15. He used every opportunity to soar to new heights and his passionate commitment would infuse every endeavor he undertook for the rest of his life.
Jay graduated from Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., in 1987, which his father, John, attended, and later his son, Bowen. Jay graduated from Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., in 1991 with a major in Political Science.
These were very happy years for Jay where he formed many lasting friendships, especially with his fraternity brothers at the X Club. It was within that fraternity that you often found the unique inventors and seekers of things outside the commonplace. It was a perfect fit for Jay.
It was in Vero Beach that Jay met the love of his life, Alex McLaughlin, who was literally the girl next door. They married in 1994 beginning a life together steeped in love, laughter and mutual admiration.
In 1995 they welcomed their first child, a son, Bowen. And in 1997, their daughter, Annabel came into the world.
Jay loved being a dad. He plunged in with gleeful abandon, relishing every moment with his children. He generously played all dad roles, no matter what they entailed. If Annabel needed a wingman, Jay was it. When Bowen wanted to search for Where’s Waldo each evening as a child, Jay searched with him. When both kids learned to drive, Jay pumped the imaginary brake right next them. Their walks to the beach were a treasured ritual as well, always sprinkled with lots of laughter.
Jay was a bright light who illuminated, inspired and guided his family to lead lives as joy-filled and giving as his own. His curiosity, enthusiasm and love nourished and guided them, and showed them what a well-lived life was all about.
Jay’s career trajectory employed the same set of values: listen, learn, teach, engage. His primary focus was managing multiple online media businesses but his brilliance was in mergers and acquisitions.
Beginning at Redgate Communications Corp., a multimedia content data based company, Jay, worked under the visionary eye of Ted Leonsis. Jay had a front row seat into how information and technology were about to engage the entire world. AOL eventually acquired Redgate in 1994.
In 1995, Jay brought his skills to work for yet another entrepreneur, Bert Ellis of IXL, an internet consulting business, Jay honed his love for sports alliances and helped to take IXL public and then parlayed that into a job with SportsLine.com (now cbssports.com) where he served as Vice President of Business Development.
Jay’s keen eye towards the future made him an excellent strategist, particularly in online season-long fantasy sports. He solved complex rights issues between traditional media stakeholders enabling the first live streaming of the NCAA Tournament games online, specifically “March Madness on Demand”, which remains one of the largest streaming events of the sports calendar year.
Jay successfully participated in the creation, management and sale of five successful venture-backed online media businesses, for both SportsLine and then FanDuel, Inc where he was an investor/advisor and then Executive Vice President from 2011-2017.
At FanDuel Jay helped grow the company from pre-revenue to approximately $1.7B in annual entry fees. Upon leaving Fanduel, Jay continued to utilize is business skill sets and with his partners, created what is today Endemic Labs.
Relationships, listening to the needs of his customers, and engaging them fully was Jay’s business forte, and he relished that as much as he did every relationship he had in his life.
In addition to his mother, Sue (John) Dobbs, Jay will be lovingly remembered by his wife, Alex, and their two children, Bowen and Annabel.
He is also survived by his sister, Sully (Jim) Hurley, and their children, Trip and Lulu.
He is predeceased by his father, John D. Amos. He also leaves behind a large family of step siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews, and friends too numerous to mention but all loved very much.
A celebration of Jay’s life will be held Monday, Feb. 24, at 11:30 a.m. at the Community Church, 1901 23rd St. Vero Beach. A reception will follow at the John’s Island Club, 1 John’s Island Dr, Vero Beach.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Jay’s name to MD Anderson, Houston Texas, where Jay received excellent care for his cancer.
