MONTEGO BAY, St James — Hotelier, businessman, developer and philanthropist Dennis Owen Morgan, OD, is the 2018 recipient of the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) Product Sample Award.

Morgan was recognised by NCU for being a true nation builder and patriot, and for his 45 years of sterling contribution to the tourism industry, human development and the wider economy.

Morgan is the owner of the Sea Garden Beach Resorts in Montego Bay and is the founder and president of Sun Holiday Travel & Tours Limited, one of the oldest ground transportation companies in the tourism industry.

“I think I could only achieve the things, I achieved because of the opportunities given to me by West Indies College (now Northern Caribbean University),” said Morgan.

“To many it might be inconceivable that one could enter a training college and be able to work and study to gain the quality education I have earned in the field of business. Five years of work and study prepared me for all that I am today. I am not a sample, but a full product of Christian education.”

Not a public person or lover of the bright lights, Morgan has made numerous private donations to various individuals, charitable organisations, social clubs, schools, churches, hospitals, and other entities.

He has mentored and provided start-up capital to various businessmen in and around Montego Bay to establish their own businesses. This has worked very well for those individuals, and today they in turn are providing employment for dozens of workers.

“My challenge for the institution is to continue to make Christian education where students are privileged to enter the institution and to work and achieve all that is necessary to make them into meaningful citizens of this country. To the institution, there are many Dennis Morgans out there. We need to prepare them to be ambassadors of this noble institution and country,” he offered with a look of strong determination etched on his face.

Morgan attended the then West Indies College, where he paid for his education by working full-time in the college’s printery, the cafeteria construction project, and in the development of the college’s science laboratory. After graduating, he worked at the Port Maria Academy as a science teacher for two years, then went on to work at Casa Maria Hotel as night auditor. While there he got the idea of operating his own business and formed his first car rental business in 1969.

On August 6, 2015, Morgan was conferred with the honour of the Order of Distinction in the Rank of Officer (OD) for outstanding service to commerce, tourism and community development. Two months later, on the commemoration of Montego Bay’s 35th anniversary of city status, he was chosen as a recipient of the Trailblazer Award.

In selecting a product sample for recognition each year, the university’s administration is guided by the criteria of an alumnus who exemplifies in life and work, the ethos and values of NCU; eminent achievement in a particular field; outstanding contribution to the development of society; achievement of academic and professional excellence, and demonstration of the principles of service and achievement through hard work and dedication to duty.