A thanksgiving service was held for the life of J. A. Lester Spaulding, former Chairman of the RJRGleaner Communications Group, on Saturday morning.
The service, held at Webster Memorial Untied Church on Half-Way-Tree Road in St. Andrew, was attended by a wide cross section of mourners, including family, staff of the company he led for decades, former business associates, members of civil society groups, and representatives of government and opposition, led by Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Opposition Leader Dr. Peter Phillips.
In his brief sermon, Reverend Norbert Stephens exhorted the congregation to reflect on and emulate some of Lester Spaulding’s most admired qualities – commitment to the truth, support for community, and capacity for consensus building.
Eulogy
More substance was given to those qualities in the eulogy delivered by Norman Brown Bell, a long- time employee of Radio Jamaica who had earlier acknowledged Lester Spaulding’s impact on her own life during her time with the company.
Brown Bell retraced his life from birth at Victoria Jubilee Hospital on April 1, 1941 to his passing on November 17, 2017.
The son of Jamaica’s first black fire chief, he attended Half Way Tree Primary School and Kingston College, then the College of Arts Science and Technology (now University of Technology) where he obtained a degree in Accounting. He left his first job as a clerk at PriceWaterHouseCooper to join the staff of Radio Jamaica as an accounting clerk in 1965, advancing to the position of Chief Accountant in 1969 and Managing Director by 1978.
She recalled further that he was appointed Chairman and Managing Director in 1994 and retained the chairmanship after vacating the Managing Director’s chair in 2008, then led the process of amalgamation with the Gleaner Company (Media) Limited in 2015, remaining the new entity’s chairman up to the time of his passing in November.
Oliver Clarke, Deputy Chairman of the RJRGleaner Group, in his customary engaging style, reflected on the fine business qualities of his former media rival-turned-partner in the recently merged conglomerate, while taking delight in recalling Mr. Spaulding’s many “tall tales” regarding his exploits as a fishing enthusiast.
Service record
Lester Spaulding served Radio Jamaica Limited (RJR) in various capacities for all but 15 of the company’s 67 years.
His appointment as Managing Director coincided with the government takeover of the company from its British owners in the late 1970s and he was at the helm when it returned to private ownership, through mass participation, involving staff and broadbased membership organizations.
He guided the company through the divestment of the remaining government shares in 1991 via listing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, and led the negotiations for the acquisition of the State owned JBC Television and Radio 2 FM, later rebranded Television Jamaica (TVJ) and Hitz 92FM.
In 2006 the company, under his leadership, entered the cable television market, acquiring Reggae Entertainment Television (RETV) and Jamaica News Network (JNN), while also launchig TVJ Sports Network.
His final major business move, commencing with negotiations in 2013, culminated in the aforementioned RJR-Gleaner amalgamation, RJRGleaner Communications Group.