(Jamaica Gleaner) John Maxwell, the fiery journalist and environmentalist, died from lung cancer late Friday at the age of 76.
Maxwell was diagnosed with cancer in December 2008 and had been receiving treatment for the disease in The Netherlands. He returned to Jamaica in July last year to accept an honorary degree from the University of the West Indies which recognised his 57-year career as a journalist and his tireless fight to protect Jamaica’s environment.
In an interview with The Gleaner last year, Maxwell blamed his illness on a lifelong smoking habit. It caused him to cut back writing Common Sense, his weekly column for the Jamaica Observer newspaper.
Maxwell’s Frederick Douglass-styled hair and raspy voice made him a distinctive public figure. He worked at several publications including The Gleaner and Public Opinion, a weekly newspaper which supported the People’s National Party (PNP).
Born in Trelawny, Maxwell was the eldest of three children for Baptist minister John William Maxwell and his wife Zelma. He was controversial during his years at Calabar High School and Jamaica College where he clashed with administrators.
That petulance carried over to The Gleaner, which he joined in 1952.
Differences with legendary editor Theodore Sealy resulted in him leaving after three years for the Public Opinion.
In Public Opinion editor and PNP founder O. T. Fairclough, Maxwell found a kindred spirit whom he said allowed him to mature as a journalist. He left that publication in 1959 to work at the fledgling Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) where some of his most controversial episodes played out.
An admirer of Jamaica premier and PNP president, Norman Manley, Maxwell was extremely critical of the JLP during his time at Public Opinion and the JBC. He claimed JLP leader Sir Alexander Bustamante and culture minister Edward Seaga targeted him because of his political views when they formed the government in the 1960s.
Maxwell said the JLP blacklisted him in the latter part of the 1960s.
Unable to find work, he moved to England where he worked at the British Broadcasting Corporation from 1967 to 1971.
He returned to Jamaica for the 1972 general election and unsuccessfully ran for the PNP against Seaga for the West Kingston seat.
The PNP easily won that election and Maxwell returned to the JBC in a senior post. He seemed to revel in the turbulence of the 1970s and backed socialist prime minister Michael Manley’s programmes which included the establishment of the National Housing Trust and the national minimum wage.
Maxwell said his first major environmental cause came in 1956 when he took on the Caribbean Cement Company when dust from its east Kingston plant became a health hazard. In recent years, he opposed bauxite mining in the Cockpit Country and housing development in the Long Mountain region of St Andrew.
Maxwell, who was married three times, is survived by widow Marjan deBruin and two children from a previous marriage.
