Berry, Tai, Athias this year’s Monsignor Gladstone Wilson awardees
Mayberry Investments Executive Chairman Christopher Berry, as well as Deacon Oswald Tai and Herman Athias are this year’s recipients of the prestigious Monsignor Gladstone Wilson Awards.
The awards, presented by St George’s College Old Boys’ Association (STGCOBA), are being bestowed on the three who, the association says, “have all given excellent service to the STGCOBA and the wider society in the fields of banking, business, and finance”.
Scheduled for the Summit hotel (formally the Knutsford Court hotel) on Saturday, November 4, 2023 at 6:30 pm, the awards honour the memory of Monsignor Wilson by celebrating St George’s College past students who have made an outstanding contribution to their alma mater and the wider society.
“Monsignor Wilson is one of the unsung heroes of Jamaica and the Roman Catholic faith in particular,” the STGCOBA said in a news release.
Wilson was admitted to St George’s College on a scholarship in 1918, and converted to Catholicism at the age of 16. Under the instruction of the then headmaster, Rt Rev William F O’Hare, he was encouraged to become a priest.
Wilson later enrolled in the Pontifical Urban College in Rome and had a brilliant career there, having obtained three doctorate degrees all before the age of 25. After his return to Jamaica Wilson became the first native diocesan priest.
In the 2020/2021 academic year the Monsignor Gladstone Wilson College for Boys, the newest addition to the Roman Catholic boys’ schools in Jamaica, was opened in Montego Bay in his honour.
St George’s College first opened its doors at 26 North Street, Kingston, in September 1850. It was founded in stormy weather as its Jesuit founders were expelled from Colombia by then President Jose Lopez on May 18, 1850. All Jesuits were ordered to abandon their colleges, churches and residences, with only the clothes on their backs.
One hundred and seventy-three years later, STGC has produced many great Jamaicans, including the founder of Kingston College, Bishop Percival Gibson, as well as Jamaica Independent Scholars and Rhodes Scholars like Professor Trevor Monroe and Deacon Ronnie Thwaites.
