Port Canaveral chair, retired Coast Guard Rear Admiral Wayne Justice dies
Port Canaveral chairman and retired Coast Guard Rear Admiral Wayne Justice has died, according to a statement released Saturday by the Canaveral Port Authority. He was 70.
Justice had been absent from last week’s State of the Port address, during which fellow commissioner Kevin Markey remarked Justice had been “contending with a health issue that prevents him from joining us. We send our sincere hopes for his recovery.”
Justice was reelected to the commission in 2022 and was in the midst of serving his third four-year term. This year, he was serving for the third time as commission chair.
“He was a champion for the port, his beloved Coast Guard, and our port district community,” the port authority statement read. “His spirit, enthusiasm, leadership and passion for the maritime industry will be deeply missed. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his wife Barbara and his entire family.”
Justice wasn’t up for reelection again until 2026. A replacement on the board until then would be appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
A pod of pelicans fly past as New Glenn NG-2 sits in the pad at Launch Complex 36A at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, as the launch is scrubbed, on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)
Shore birds fly past the New Glenn NG-2 sits in the pad at Launch Complex 36A at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, as the launch is scrubbed, on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)
New Glenn NG-2 sits in the pad at Launch Complex 36A at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, as the launch is scrubbed, on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)
Blue Origin’s New Glenn sits on the pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 36 ahead of the planned NG-2 launch. (Courtesy/Blue Origin)