MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Sixty eight year-old Mandeville businessman Lascelles Aston Roach who recently passed away was remembered as “a man of great dreams and vision” at the Thanksgiving Service to celebrate his life.

Up to the time of his death Roach operated Lascar Fencing and Construction Limited, janitorial company Lamasa Limited, Hatfield Hardware and Hatfield Plaza.

According to family friend Velma Duncan who read the eulogy, though he started out working for others he had deeper aspiration and worked at carving out his path to entrepreneurship.

“You name it, he tried it. He was a go-getter in every sense of the word,” she said.

Coupled with his highspirited and vivacious personality she said that he also demonstrated traits of being innovative, industrious and businesslike.

Duncan said he believed that it was possible to achieve whatever the mind can conceive and that was demonstrated in his drive for success.

She said that his time at Nazareth All-Age in North West Manchester and Richmond All-Age in Central Manchester summed up his formal education and the world later became his university.

“This creative genius with no degree from Harvard Business School was able to construct a diversified portfolio of businesses that provided employment for a wide cross section of Jamaicans of varied skill sets,” said Duncan.

Roach she said was also public-spirited and gave advice freely, gave support in cash and kind when necessary, served in capacities such as Justice of the Peace, on school boards and the People’s National Party (PNP).

The eulogy said that Roach’s home was always open to people of a wide social mix and any occasion was an opportunity for him and his wife Marcia, who predeceased him, to have a coming together of family, friends and associates.

In a reflection on his father at the service at the Mandeville Parish Church — St Mark, Jerome Roach, one of his four children, said that he was not just a father but a friend.

He said that in his own responsibilities as a parent he is striving to be at least half the man that he was. Reverend Barrington Soares told the congregation that even when things seem bad there is hope as God’s compassion never fails. “Put your trust in God and he will direct your life,” he urged.

Offering was taken in aid of the Outreach Programme at the Mandeville Parish Church. Lascelles Roach was laid to rest at the Oaklawm Memorial Gardens in Manchester.