FORMER Jamaica athlete and longstanding track and field administrator Ronald Horsham has died.

Horsham passed away on Monday at the Andrews Memorial Hospital in St Andrew, where he had gone for treatment after suffering for long from diabetes and recently contracted pneumonia. He leaves behind wife Ernestine and children.

“It has comes as a shock and deep regret that I have heard of his death and I express condolences to his family,” president of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) Howard Aris told the Observer yesterday.

“He was a member of our executive for many years and when he retired as an athlete, he became a great administrator and managed several teams to major international events.

“One of his sons, Derrick, who attended Wolmer’s Boys’, was also a discus thrower and himself served the JAAA. We will certainly miss Ron,” Aris said.

A former student of the Montego Bay Boys School, Horsham was active in sport at the institution, but was best at track and field.

A former 100- and 200-metre runner at school and later at the National Championship, Horsham first represented Jamaica at the Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada in 1954, running the 100 200 and the sprint relay.

Horsham later acquired a full athletic scholarship to Philander Smith College in the United States and transferred to Arkansas State College.

With a strong background in chemistry, Horsham completed his Bachelor’s degree, following a period of committed representation of the institution and later worked in New York as an industrial chemistry technologist.

A Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) representative for Jamaica in 1959, Horsham returned to live in the island of his birth in 1970, and proceeded to coach several schools in the Corporate Area, in addition to running his own business.

Horsham also served as an executive member of the JAAA for over a decade, and during that period, managed and coached national teams to various meets overseas.

Among the meets that he has attended as manager or coach are the Olympic Games in Los Angeles (1984), South Korea (1988) and Atlanta (1996), the World Championships in Rome, Italy in 1987 and Gothenburg, Sweden in 1995, the Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina in 1995, the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia in 1982 and Victoria, Canada in 1994, as well as the Central American & Caribbean Games in Barbados in 1993.

Funeral arrangements are being made.