Two Jamaican icons — Gordon “Butch” Stewart and Frederick “Toots” Hibbert, who died recently — are to be posthumously honoured with the Key to the City of Kingston, deputy mayor, Councillor Winston Ennis told yesterday’s council meeting of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC).
Robert Hill, CEO of the KSAMC, told the Jamaica Observer that the resolution to formalise the honouring of the two icons will be moved at the February meeting of the council. The date for the ceremony will also be disclosed at that time, he said.
Stewart, the founder of Sandals Resorts International — the world’s leading all-inclusive hotel chain — died in the USA on January 4, after a brief illness. He was 79.
The Jamaican hotelier and businessman, who has been lauded as a quintessential marketer, innovator and philanthropist, was the founder, owner, and chairman of Sandals Resorts, Beaches Resorts, as well as the ATL Group, which includes the Jamaica Observer.
Stewart’s resort operations include at least 15 properties across the Caribbean. His accomplishments in tourism and business earned him numerous awards including two from the Jamaican Government — the Order of Jamaica, the country’s fourth-highest honour and, before that, Commander of the Order of Distinction.
He received the honorary Doctor of Laws degree twice — from The University of the West Indies in 2001 and in 2009 from the University of Technology, Jamaica.
Hibbert, who was lead singer of The Maytals when it was formed in the early 1960s, and the man purported to have given reggae its name while helping to make it an international movement, died on September 11, 2020 at age 77 after contracting COVID-19.
Viewing ceremony for ‘Butch’ Stewart at Stella Maris Church today Observer
His electrifying performances thrilled live music lovers locally and internationally for more than 50 years and he was conferred with the Order of Jamaica in 2012.
