MCSO Cold Case Unit chairman retires

Jim Phillips poses for a photo outside the Cracker Barrel in Ocala, Fla. on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. Phillips is retiring as the chairman of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit after 20 years. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2025.

As of Tuesday, Jim Phillips has finally retired; or so he says.

Phillips’ latest retirement comes after being a 20-year member of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit. He functioned as its chairman for the last three years but has served with the group since its inception in 2005. He credits the unit’s members for their “consistent, dedicated work in solving cold cases.”

The Cold Case Unit is only one of Phillips’ many civil service and philanthropic contributions to this community. He was a Marion County prosecutor for 24 years and before that was a prosecutor for Broward County. He was an adjunct professor at the College of Central Police Academy for 27 years.

Phillips and his wife, Connie, who was his high-school sweetheart, have been married for 58 years and are very active in the community. He was a member of the Kiwanis Club of Ocala for 40 years and was involved in many projects, including the Reading is Fundamental program, giving books to students at selected schools throughout the years. He is a member of the Elks Club.

Additional entities to which Phillips has tirelessly given of his time, talents and expertise during his years in Ocala include serving on the advisory board of the E-Kel-Ktn-Eckerd Camp in the Ocala National Forest, serving as a member of the Ocala Public Safety Commission for 19 years, serving as a Marion County Teen Court Judge, working on the United Way of Marion County Allocation Review Committee, teaching weekly classes for at-risk juveniles about choices and consequences while a part of the Mad Dads organization in West Ocala, serving as a precinct clerk for the Marion County Board of Elections and doing maintenance and upkeep projects with the Florida Trail System on the Cross Florida Greenway and in the Ocala National Forest.

The Phillipses have both volunteered at the Fort King National Historic Landmark and Heritage Center.

Jim and Connie also have an impressive collection of antique ice cream scoops and memorabilia, which they delight in displaying at schools, churches and other organizations. They belong to an international group of collectors called the “Ice Screamers.” The group meets annually, and this summer will mark their 43rd anniversary when they gather in Ohio. They have attended most of the annual gatherings.

“They are a great group of people,” he said.

Every year, the Phillipses highlight an assortment of ice cream scoops and related items in the lobby of the main library in Ocala, on Silver Springs Boulevard. In a program there, they tell the interesting histories behind some of their “finds.”

They enjoy local concerts, plays, theater performances and other entertainment venues in Ocala, and are often seen “out and about.”

The couple loves professional baseball and has traveled to many ballparks across the country to watch teams in spring training. They have amassed about 8,000 major league players’ autographs on their baseball cards. They will be traveling to Northport soon to watch spring training for the Atlanta Braves.

In his “spare time,” Phillips enjoys hiking and loves the natural beauty and landscapes, forests and springs Marion County offers.

The newly named chairman for Cold Case Unit is Garry Ferguson. He has been involved in the unit’s activities for about 15 years, he said, and has been co-chairman for about three years. He was named Deputy of the Year for the State of Florida during his 30-year career in Sarasota at the Sheriff’s Department there. He lived for a time in Citrus County, followed by his move to Marion County. Altogether, Ferguson has spent about 54 years in the area of law enforcement, he said.

Members of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit, back, from left, Wilston Bennett, Ray Carratala, Harry Carlile and Mike Thompson, and front, left to right, Carolyn Tanner, Jim Phiilips and Garry Ferguson, pose for a photo outside the Cracker Barrel in Ocala, Fla. on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. Phillips is retiring as the chairman of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit after 20 years. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2025.