KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Hon Oliver F Clarke, former chairman of Jamaica National and The Gleaner Company died tonight after a long illness. He was 75.

The Hon Oliver F Clarke worked with the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) as assistant general manager and general manager from 1971 to 1976.  He served as chairman of JNBS for two decades, 1977 to 1997 and also served as deputy chairman from 1997 until 2002, when he was reappointed chairman. 

In February 2017, Mr Clarke was appointed Chairman of the newly launched subsidiary, JN Bank, as well as the restructured mutual holding companies, The Jamaica National Group and the JN Financial Group.  In April 2019, he demitted chairmanship of both JN Bank and the JN Financial Group and remained as chairman of The Jamaica National Group.

A Chartered Accountant, Clarke was managing director (1976 – 2018) and has been chairman of since 1979 of The Gleaner Company (now 1834 Investments Limited.  He is also past president of both The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) and The Inter American Press Association.

In 1990, he received the Americas Award from the Americas Foundation and was inducted into the PSOJ Private Sector Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2009, he was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) from The University of the West Indies, and also from the University of Technology.  In 2013, he received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the Northern Caribbean University.