HARVARD University Professor Orlando H Patterson led a field of more than 120 Jamaicans who were announced yesterday as recipients of national honours awards for 2020.

Patterson, who is now 80, was appointed a member of the Order of Merit (OM), Jamaica’s third-highest national honour.

A historical and cultural sociologist, he previously held faculty appointments at his alma mater The University of the West Indies (UWI) and London School of Economics, where he received his PhD.

The author of numerous academic papers and six major academic books, including Slavery and Social Death (1982), Freedom in the Making of Western Culture (1991), The Ordeal of Integration (1997), and The Cultural Matrix: Understanding Black Youth (2015), he was born in Westmoreland and attended Kingston College.

Five Jamaicans were honoured with appointments to the Order of Jamaica (OJ). They are: Minister of Education, Youth and Information Karl George Samuda, a near 50-year veteran politician who is also the leader of the House of Representatives; Senator Thomas George Lewis Tavares-Finson, president of the Senate and electoral commissioner; Brian Hector John Wynter, former governor of the Bank of Jamaica; famous Jamaican sprinter Merlene Joyce Ottey; and distinguished banker and president and group chief executive officer of NCB Financial Group, which includes the National Commercial Bank (NCB), Patrick Andrew Alwyn Junior Hylton.

The next highest honour, the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander (CD), was accorded to 46 individuals, among them the late Member of Parliament Shahine Robinson; Robert Thompson, suffragan bishop of Kingston; Bishop Everald Galbraith of the Methodist Church; Rev Karl Johnson; Rev Roy Henry; Cedella Marley, daughter of the late reggae icon Bob Marley; comedian/actor Oliver Samuels; journalist and former newspaper editor Garfield Grandison; multimedia pioneer Richard Forbes Sr; banker Dunbar McFarlane; civil servant James Rawle; Professor Rainford Wilks; Professor Sir Godfrey Palmer for service to the Jamaican Diaspora in Scotland; Hazelle Rogers, for service to the Caribbean Diaspora in the United States; Archbishop Kenneth Richards; Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica President Keith Duncan; retired Olympic gold medallist Deon Hemmings; Metry Seaga, manufacturer/business leader; Brian Jardim, businessman; Ian Dear, tourism sector investor; Dr Alwyn Hayles, civil servant; and, deputy clerk to the Houses of Parliament, Valrie Curtis.

There were some 41 individuals appointed to the Order of Distinction in the rank of Officer (OD), among them trade unionist Clifton Grant of the University and Allied Workers Union; Dr Florence Young, Marjorie Steer, and Lieutenant Colonel Hubert Lounge, for contribution to agriculture; singer Eric Donaldson, drummer William “Willie” Stewart, DJ Manley “Big Youth” Buchanan, British music selector David Rodigan, singer Keith Lyn, for contribution to entertainment; Henry Stennett for contribution to radio; Barbara Ellington, for journalism; Jonathan Baker, for contribution to the music and tourism industries; Deiwght Peters, for his contribution to the fashion industry; and Clive Thompson of the National Nance Theatre Company.

Some 50 Badges of Honour were also awarded for public services, including the police, the military and government ministries, departments and agencies.

Superintendent of Police Leon Ernest Clunis, who was shot while attempting to apprehend a gunman in Horizon Park, St Catherine, in June, and hospitalised, but later died, was awarded a Medal of Honour for Gallantry. Other members of his team from that day, Detective Corporal Dane Kimoy Biggs and Constable Decardo Akeem Hylton, as well as District Constable Lothan Richards, who was also shot and seriously injured, were also awarded Medals of Honour for Gallantry. Biggs and Hylton also died.

The awards were made under the National Honours and Awards Act, 1969. They took effect yesterday, Independence Day, and will be presented to the individuals at King’s House on National Heroes’ Day in October.