Three inducted into St George’s College’s Hall of Fame

Was it the Talk of the Town?

Their North Street rivals may say the jury is still out, but St George’s College stepped out in style for the school’s Hall of Fame cocktail reception and induction ceremony inside Talk of the Town at The Jamaican Pegasus hotel on the evening of Saturday, November 12.

It was the 11th such induction ceremony since 2000, and Stephen Hill (class of 1959), for community spirit, excellence and achievement in business, international recognition, vision and innovation; Richard Lake (class of 1970), for community spirit, excellence and achievement in business, inspiring leadership, vision and innovation, and service to the college; and Francis Price (class of 1964), for excellence and achievement in business, inspiring leadership, international recognition, and service to the college, were this year’s inductees.

Induction into the St George’s College Hall of Fame is the highest accolade to which Georgian ‘old boys’ and faculty may be recognised. After Saturday’s instalment there are now 56 inductees in total, portraits of whom are prominently displayed at the St George’s College Hall of Fame Room.

In the citation read for Stephen Hill, by Professor Trevor Munroe, an old boy himself, it is said that he “may be accurately described as a pioneering businessman in the fast-moving world of media, a Georgian who has identified a lucrative market niche which has yielded considerable success”. With the late Ronnie Nasralla, Hill is a co-founder and now chief executive officer of Caribbean International Network (CIN), a television network for Caribbean news and culture that serves the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut Tri-State region.

Over the years Hill has made contributions to the St George’s College Endowment Fund, to the school’s building funds, as well as to several sports programmes embraced by St George’s College. One of his most significant accomplishments is the annual Caribbean International Network Lecture Series, “a community forum for far-sighted and imaginative Caribbean leaders, who reflect on regional issues and who provide hope and a course for the future”.

Old Boy Roy McCatty was tasked with the reading of the citation for Francis Price, who, it was said, had “achieved greatness with numerous accolades to his name, in spite of formidable obstacles, blazing a long and widening trail as a boundary breaker”.

Currently a trustee of the University of Rochester, New York, Price “runs a portfolio of companies, among which he owns commercial and industrial operations in central Mexico, in China, in Rochester, Michigan, and in Anaheim, California”. He is the owner, president and CEO of Interact Performance Systems, whose clients include All State Insurance, General Motors Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, etc.

“Francis is grateful for the many opportunities he has received in his adopted country, and has created opportunities for students who have the propensity for science and mathematics, nurturing their talent, and in so doing, supporting low-income and first-generation university students,” the citation read. And the reading continued with a feminine touch.

She is not an ‘old girl’, but principal of St George’s, Margaret Campbell, who also read the ‘College Report’, reeled out the accolades for Richard Lake, whose story of success was described as having “many prisms”. Campbell told the gathering about the contractor and developer who introduced the Aerocon Building System to Jamaica in the 1970s, and for which he was awarded the Prime Minister’s Medal for his contribution to low-cost, affordable housing in Jamaica.

As for St George’s, Lake is the benefactor of the Annual Rodwell Lake scholarship to The University of the West Indies. He had sponsored school fees for Manning Cup students, and meals for students active in sports, and the rehabilitation of the football field at the school’s Winchester Park.

In his reply, Lake said, “Whatever we are today is as a result of St George’s.” He also said he was particularly honoured especially when he thought about his children because he saw them as offspring of the values that he had learnt at St George’s. “I can’t tell you how much this award means to me, because it spans three generations, and I thank George’s for everything they have done,” he said in closing.

Earlier, in his response, Stephen Hill, who promised to donate US$10,000 to St George’s, dedicated his award “to the memory” of three other Hills who attended St George’s, and “who deserved to be honoured”. They are Kenneth Hill, Frank Hill and his father, Stephen.

“All three men forged distinctive paths for themselves that we can be proud of as fellow Georgians and Jamaicans. It is for this reason that I thus dedicate this award to the memory of the men I called ‘the three Hills’,” he said. He is one of three other Hills who have so far been inducted.

The “overwhelming emotion is gratitude” for Francis Price, who referred to himself as “the little boy” from Denham Town. In reference to those who preceded him, he said, “If it wasn’t for leaving the lights on, people like me would never had got the chance to stand here today … .” To him St George’s is not just a location, but also a “state of mind”.

“And, getting a chance to go to a place like St George’s College makes the world a different place for you, and that is my sense of gratitude, and I want to say tonight, thank you, for what you have done, and what you will continue to do.”

Master of ceremonies for the night was the affable Jazeel Martin, Class of 2010 old boy and attorney-at-law, while the multitalented vocal virtuoso Bunny Rose thrilled the capacity audience with some of his signature songs.

editorial@gleanerjm.com