Draft:Jay Simonton Bancroft

Jay was born in Wilmington, Delaware to Shirley and Lewis Bancroft. He has 7 siblings. Jay graduated from Wilmington Friends School in 1984. While earning a BS in computer engineering at the Univ. of Colorado (1988). For 2 summers he helped automate image analysis for DuPont Inc.

He worked at the Naval Research Lab in DC, programming communication systems. Volunteering at the Smithsonian NHM insect zoo, studying at Univ. of MD, and working at the USDA Beltsville insect lab, led to a scientific career in population ecology.

He received a MS from Kansas State and Ph.D. from Univ of Conn. Along with several teaching jobs and professional organizations, he worked as a fisheries biometrician in Dover, DE and entomology for USDA in California's central valley and the Sterns Beneficial Insect Lab on UDel's south campus. Field work included invasive pest dispersal research in Gansu China and paddling the Amazon river with Wilderness Classroom.

Jay's partner is Lelane Rossouw from South Africa. Lanie is an artist and long distance swimmer. They spend time with friends and family while eating, gardening, brewing, hiking, and camping.

He moved to Newark, DE in 2010. He became active in local politics during a controversial power plant proposed in 2014. He began serving on Newark City Council in 2020. He has focused on Newark's sustainability and quality of life.