(Jamaica Gleaner) Edward Phillip George Seaga, Jamaica’s fifth Prime Minister and longest serving Member of Parliament, has died.
Today was his 89th birthday.
He died in a Miami hospital today where he had been receiving treatment for cancer and related complications.
Seaga was the last surviving framer of the Jamaican constitution.
At the age of 29, the former prime minister became the youngest person to be nominated to the Legislative Council (later the Senate) where he served for two years before he became a Member of Parliament until his retirement in January 2005.
But even after his retirement, he remained active in the public arena, and, later that year, was appointed as a Distinguished Fellow of the University of the West Indies (Mona), whose Research Institute had earlier been named in his honour.
In 2008, he was appointed Pro-Chancellor of the University of Technology, Jamaica and two years later he became the institution’s second chancellor after his predecessor, Lord Morris Handsworth, retired.
A lifelong sports enthusiast, the former prime minster was chairman of the Premier League Clubs Association, one of Jamaica’s governing football bodies, from its inception until 2010.
He also served as president of the football club of his former West Kingston enclave, Tivoli Gardens.
On May 15 when Prime Minister Andrew Holness visited Seaga in Miami, he enquired about Jamaica’s football programme and was updated by the Sports Minister Olivia Grange.
Seaga was born on May 28, 1930 in Boston, Massachusetts, while his Jamaican parents were on a visit to America.
When he was three months old, he was brought to Jamaica by his parents.
FAMILY
1965 – Married Marie (Mitsy) Elizabeth Constantine, the Miss Jamaica 1964
1995 – Divorced
1996 – Married Carla Frances Vendyres
CHILDREN
Andrew
Christopher
Anabella
Gabrielle
