INVESTOR Cliff Borough, who died last week, was remembered yesterday before family, friends and hundreds of corporate magnates for his generosity, defending the interests of minority shareholders and firm commitment to corporate transparency.

A song of tribute, Frank Sinatra’s My Way, symbolised the theme of the many tributes delivered at the service of thanksgiving held at the Temple of Light, Fairway Avenue, in Kingston.

“You are a trailblazer. We hail you for your courageous activism and recognise with gratitude the role you played in helping to develop an important dimension of our stock market,” declared Wain Iton, general manager of the Jamaica Stock Exchange.

Borough, 73, was killed last week at his home at 7 Chesterfield Avenue, Kingston 10. No one has yet been arrested for his murder.

The developer, salesman and lawn-mower repairman, gave up those ventures to become a full-time investor, an endeavour which was to bring him fame, and later, many admirers in corporate Jamaica.

Borough was a regular fixture at the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) on trading days and endured the ‘bulls and bears’ of the market over the years.

For his efforts, he was commended by the JSE in 2000, for “his contribution towards minority shareholders’ rights”. However, his efforts may not have been equally rewarded in the market.

“How successful he was remains to be seen. I didn’t dare to tell him he was still learning,” his daughter, Nicola, jokingly said during her remembrance of her father.

This blended well with the supportive and cheerful mood of the afternoon, and seemed to reflect the nature of the man.

“Borough enjoyed life… [and] had the ability to share a joke and laugh at a joke. He liked to socialise and retained old friends. He had no enemies,” noted Hugh Croskery, a friend and managing director of the stockbrokerage, Paul Chen Young and Company.

Marjorie Borough, Borough’s ex-wife, recalled him as having eccentric ways, and not afraid to think differently from others. “He was often willing to swim against the tide,” she remembered.

Borough started investing in the 1970s, having been inspired by what his ex-wife and daughter said was a “game of stock ticker”. He went on to develop a fascination for the intricacies of the business world.

Christopher Berry, executive chairman of Mayberry Investments, the brokerage house where Borough was a client, recalled that it was after he got “the short end of the stick on a business deal” that Borough vowed to deepen his knowledge and understanding of the market.

“He spent hours studying the listed companies, attending AGMs and reading annual reports,” noted Berry.

Marrying this keen knowledge with his sometimes acid tongue and quick wit, he often frustrated directors and managers, insisting that they pay attention to the interests of minority stockholders, Berry said.

In the end, what Borough did was almost single-handedly change the culture at annual general meetings.

“In the early days, some listed companies were very uncomfortable when they heard that Mr Borough was coming to their AGM,” said Berry. “In later years, they would have been disappointed if he did not show up.”

Said Iton, whose tribute was on behalf of the Jamaica Stock Exchange employees, board of directors and traders: “Before Cliff began his crusade, most AGMs were perfunctory affairs, often lasting for a few minutes with few shareholders in attendance, even asking fewer questions. Many persons believed that the chairman could ever be challenged. Cliff changed that perception.”

“His memory will be as persistent in my thoughts as he was in the AGMs,” his daughter, Nicola added.

Borough, who is being cremated, is survived by his daughter, Nicola; son, Christopher; and ex-wife Marjorie.