HUNDREDS of mourners gathered at Sts Peter & Paul Church on Old Hope Road in St Andrew yesterday to bid farewell to Richard Fontaine — co-founder, chairman and president of Fraser Fontaine and Kong Limited (FFK), one of Jamaica’s oldest insurance brokerage houses.

Fontaine, who was also the founder and president of Belize Insurance Centre, founding father, executive director and lifetime member of the Insurance Association of the Caribbean for which he served as president at different intervals over the past years, died of prostate cancer on April 11. He was 75.

At the thanksgiving service, two of his children, Martine and Gerard Fontaine, staff members of FFK, as well as Sandals and Jamaica Observer Chairman Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart offered tribute to the man they referred to as a stalwart father, good and responsible leader, and respected friend.

There were also tributes from other business associates.

Born in Bridgetown, Barbados, Fontaine became a naturalised Jamaican and attended St George’s College in downtown Kingston.

He is survived by his four children, a stepson, among other relatives. (See more in Sunday’s Life Tributes).