Pallbearers, clockwise from left forefront: Lloyd Facey, Douglas Vaz, Oliver Clarke, Douglas Graham, Earl Levy (partly hidden), Emil Kouri, Charles Hanna and Paul Issa, take the casket with the remains of Eric Abrahams from the St Andrew Parish Church in Kingston yesterday. Behind them at right is Anthony Abrahams. (Photo: John Nicholson)

Eric Wordsworth Abrahams would have been more than pleased. For yesterday's thanksgiving service for his life, held at the St Andrew Parish Church in Half-Way-Tree, began precisely at 11:00 am - a respectful gesture to a man for whom "there was no such thing as 'Jamaica time'".

"Punctuality, he always assured us, was a mark of a gentleman," said his grandson, Eric Jason Abrahams, "and time was something he managed carefully... he had to, in order to achieve the literally thousands of things that he wanted to in his life."

In his nearly 100 years of life, Abrahams served on the boards of more than 25 companies, some of them Jamaica's most successful and established, such as the Palace Amusement Company, Gleaner Company, R Hanna and Sons Ltd, Caribbean Metal Products Ltd and Jamaica Citizens Bank.
He also served the country as a justice of the peace, was honoured by the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association in 1997 for his contributions to Jamaica's economy, and by the nation, with the Prime Minister's Medal.

According to his grandson, Abrahams enjoyed his weekly round of golf in his spare time and delighted in thrilling his friends and family with his magic skills that earned him a seat on the international Inner Circle of Magicians, one of the few amateurs to ever earn that honour.
He "saw integrity and honesty as being the cornerstones of his existence" and was a true success in his professional and personal life, as was evidenced by the many business and political leaders who attended his funeral.

At the start of the service, officiated by Rev Everton Cunningham, a touching tribute was delivered by Maurice Facey, chairman of the PanJam Group, while the mourners included the Gleaner's managing director Oliver Clarke, banker Paul Issa, Douglas Graham of Palace Amusement Ltd, architect Earl Levy, former Jamaica Labour Party member of parliament and industry minister, Douglas Vaz, broadcaster and Breakfast Club co-host Beverly Anderson-Manley, veteran journalist Wilmot Perkins, former director of tourism Fay Pickersgill, Senator Bruce Golding, Opposition parliamentarians Mike Henry and Pearnel Charles.

Abrahams was eulogised by his grandson as "a truly wonderful and loving grandfather, a supportive and caring father, a devoted and deeply loved husband, a brother, a generous and affectionate friend."
"He was a wondrous magician; he was a businessman," said Jason Abrahams, who said his grandfather once told him that the highest compliment one man could pay to another is to call him a gentlemen.

"...above all else and in every regard," Jason Abrahams said of his grandfather, "he was a gentleman."
Eric Abrahams, who would have been 99 years old on February 20, passed away at his home on February 5 after a long illness. He is survived by his four children - Dawne, Hope, Andrew and Anthony (co-host of the morning current affairs radio talk show, The Breakfast Club), as well as six grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Abrahams was interred in the church cemetery.

Executive Class

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Death to the Mullet!