A melting pot of journalists, politicians, colleagues, and students yesterday crammed into the University of the West Indies (UWI) Chapel in Mona, to bid farewell to Professor Winston Aggrey Brown, “a man well ahead of his time”.

Brown, who last Wednesday succumbed to cancer, was sent to his final resting place just the way he wanted; with close friends, family, and his beloved students as witnesses. His body was cremated.

Many cried as they reflected on the many moods of the family man, the “big man”, who, among his many successes, assisted in the development of the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communications (Carimac).

Brown’s wife, Suzanne Francis-Brown, who valiantly composed herself to offer tribute to her husband, did so with pride.

“I didn’t let them put me on the programme ’cause I didn’t know if I could do this. But I just want to say a couple of things,” said Francis-Brown, joining her son, Sean, at the altar. He, earlier, meandered through a tribute to his father on behalf of his three siblings, pausing at intervals, and with tears streaming down his cheeks.

“Aggrey would commend the golden rule that so many Carimac students would have learnt to underline; that we treat others the way ourselves would wish to be treated,” said Francis-Brown. “He would urge us to live with confidence and if we get things wrong, to acknowledge that, to make amends and to keep on going with the lessons learnt. That is the mark of big people. My husband was a big man,” she said, to applause and nods of agreement from the congregation of more than 400 mourners.

Francis-Brown, reflecting on the last three months of her husband’s life, said that Brown and herself were proud of how their children “stepped up” and dealt with his illness.

She also thanked those who supported the family through the period.

“Thanks to the institutions and the individuals who have supported him and us through this roller coaster ride that seemed endless at times,” she said. “To those who share his care of his expertise, to those who this past week have shared their broken hearts, and not least, to all of those who have been there for us and for each other, thank you,” she said.

Earlier, Sean reminisced on the many good times that he spent with his stepfather, and the lessons that Aggrey Brown imparted on him, his brother Martin, and their younger sisters, Kari and Robyn.

“The most important thing to my father was family. He wrote to me that everything in this life begins and ends with family,” said Sean, “And family to dad was not just biological or marital, he assembled to himself an extended family; there were students from here at Carimac, persons from the university,” he continued, naming some persons.

“Dad believed it took a village to raise a child and he enlisted all these persons to assist in the process. Anyone who worked with my father, worked with him for life,” Sean said.

Tributes were also offered by Professor Brian Meeks, Public Orator for the UWI, who spoke of Brown’s love for fishing; Dr Swithin Wilmot, dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education, who told of Brown’s many contributions to the faculty; and Dr Nova Gordon Bell, head of the department of Liberal Studies at the University of Technology (Utech), who reminisced on her experiences as one of Brown’s students.

Said Gordon Bell: “Aggrey’s students learnt early that there is no such thing as objectivity, we can only strive to be fair. So it is fair to say that Professor Aggrey Brown stimulated, motivated, and terrified us into critical thought.”

“He relished opposition, he invited contradictions, and sometimes he could not help but look forward each class to yanking us out of the box,” she said to cheers from present and former Carimac students.