KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange, has expressed sadness at the passing of the Rev Fr Easton Lee, who died in Florida this morning at age 89.

Lee, a former broadcaster, actor and theatre director was born in Wait-a-Bit, Trelawny on February 19, 1931 to a Chinese father, Henry, and a Jamaican mother, Ercie.

He spent his formative years in Siloah, St Elizabeth, attending Siloah Primary, Duncans Primary and Windsor High schools.

Grange said, “Easton had to be specially blessed to have been able to contribute in the many ways that he did. As a poet, actor, orator, playwright, award-winning television and radio producer and theatre director. All of this as he worked mostly as a broadcaster, communications consultant, and minister of religion in the Anglican faith. 

“We are the grateful beneficiaries of what he did and what he said, not the least through his poems grouped under the title, From Behind the Counter. So thrilling it was to learn from him that his poetry was inspired by tales he was told by his mother and what he heard from customers who came to his parents’ grocery shop and spoke of many things unaware their young son was under the shop counter listening to everything.

“Easton Lee’s contribution has guaranteed him his niche in the annals of culture and arts in the Jamaican nation.

“I express my sincere condolences to his family, friends and associates.

“May his soul rest in peace.”