KINGSTON, Jamaica – Educator and co-founder of the Fitz-Henley Secretarial Institute, Olive Fitz-Henley, is dead.

Fitz-Henley died Tuesday night at the intensive care unit of the University Hospital of the West Indies, (UHWI), after battling a period of illness. She was 85.

For a number of decades Fitz-Henley, alongside her husband, educator Samuel Fitz-Henley, operated three secretarial institutes in Kingston, St Catherine and St Ann, which assisted Jamaicans with training in shorthand, typing and secretarial duties.

Contacted Wednesday morning by the OBSERVER ONLINE, Fitz-Henley’s nephew, broadcast journalist Abka Fitz-Henley confirmed her passing while commenting that “she lived a full life, she had a quiet but steely commitment to serving her country and family. It’s a tough time, but we are thankful to the supreme being that she lived.”

Fitz-Henley is survived by four children, daughter, Sheryl, and sons David, Andrew and noted dermatologist, Dr Michael Fitz-Henley.