PRIME MINISTER Portia Simpson Miller yesterday led tributes to the late Maurice Facey, “visionary, business tycoon and commercial real estate pioneer”.

“In his own quiet way [he] was a giant of a man, and he leaves behind huge footprints across corporate Jamaica and in the voluntary service sector,” Simpson Miller said.

Simpson Miller described Facey — who passed away on Tuesday at the University Hospital of the West Indies — as a “remarkable Jamaican” who had made a “sterling contribution” to real estate development across the capital city.

He would have been 88 years old in August.

Facey, was also lauded by Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips, Opposition Leader Andrew Holness, and the Private Sector Organisation (PSOJ) of Jamaica.

Phillips said that Facey was well respected in his field and that there was no boundary to his entrepreneurial wisdom manifested in the numerous landmark structures that line the corridors of New Kingston and Kingston in general.

“Jamaica has lost a visionary and true son of the soil,” the minister said.

For his part, Holness described Facey as an exemplary Jamaican and patriot.

Holness noted Facey’s humble start in the private sector as clerk and sales representative, and his rise to become chairman of eight major Jamaican companies, including Pan Jamaican Investments; chairman of three very important public/private partnership organisations, including the Kingston Restoration Company and the Tourism Action Plan Limited; and director of close to 20 local companies and the PSOJ.

“He was a role model for ambitious Jamaicans determined to succeed in business — a fine example of a good corporate spirit…,” Holness said. “His death is a sad loss to Jamaica — probably when we need him most — but we will find consolation in his remarkable legacy.”

The PSOJ expressed deep sadness over the passing of one of its founding members and inductee of the group’s Hall of Fame.

“Mr Facey was a visionary and innovative entrepreneur, family man and patriot, who made a significant contribution to Jamaica and his legacy will live on for years to come,” said the organisation in a release.

The business tycoon, who won an Observer Business Leader Lifetime Achievement award, was almost single-handedly responsible for the development of New Kingston. Facey can be credited for some of the finest structures in that area, among them the Victoria Mutual building, Pan Caribbean Bank building, the First Life building and the Courtleigh Hotel, formerly the Marcus Garvey Building.

Other impressive commercial buildings include the 97,000 square-foot Scotiabank Centre on Port Royal Street, downtown Kingston, and the nearly 50-year-old Manor Park complex in the Constant Spring area of St Andrew, which is among the most sought-after commercial marketplaces in the island.

Facey also stamped his mark on some of the Corporate Area’s most beautifully designed residential developments which include the 120-unit Abbey Court condominium at the corner of Trafalgar Road and Hope Road, the 14-acre Acadia townhouse complex and single houses, the Barcelona apartment on Seaview Avenue and the Fort George residential lots on Stony Hill Road.

The ambitious businessman was, however, not completely content to rest with his successes in the real estate sector and ventured into horticulture, tourism and agriculture.

Today, agriculture forms a part of the portfolio of the Pan Jam group with million-dollar profits from Walkerswood Group, and its Busha Browne and Jamaica Joe brands of spices. The Mavis Bank Coffee Factory is also a part of the Facey-owned companies and was acquired in partnership with the Jamaica Producers Group in 2011.

Before his success, Facey started out as a salesman in his father’s company, the Cecil B Facey Limited, a trading and manufacturing company which would spawn the Facey empire, including Pan-Jamaican Investment Trust Limited and Sagicor.

Facey founded, led and invested in a number of other companies, including Hardware & Lumber Company (now Rapid True Value), First Life Insurance Company and the PanCaribbean Merchant Bank (now Sagicor Bank).

Facey’s contribution to the country’s development has earned him the Order of Jamaica (OJ) and an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Technology. The former chairman of the Jamaica Heritage Trail, was born in St Andrew on August 12, 1925 to parents Cecil Boswell Facey and Evelyn Tomlinson-Facey. He received his formal education at the DeCarteret Prep School and Jamaica College.

He is survived by his British-born wife of 60 years, Valerie Hart-Collins, and two children, Stephen Brian Facey, the current CEO of Pan-Jamaican Investment Trust, and daughter Laura Frances Facey-Cooper, the internationally renowned sculptor, who may well be most remembered for her controversial work — the nude slaves statue at Emancipation Park.