United States President Joe Biden yesterday named Jamaican immigrant and veteran New York assemblyman Noah Nicholas “Nick” Perry, as his nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Jamaica.

The 71-year-old Perry was born in St Andrew and, after secondary schooling at Kingston College, joined the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) as an organiser, prior to emigrating to the United States in 1971.

The following year he volunteered for the United States Army, from which he was honourably discharged at the rank of Specialist Five in 1978, after serving as an active-duty serviceman for two years and an inactive reserve for four years.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York, and later returned to Brooklyn College to study for a Master of Arts in public policy and administration.

Buoyed by his college heritage as a strong student leader, rights activist, and founder of the United Student League, Perry got involved with community organising and gained recognition as an effective advocate and strong leader in his community. He was appointed to the local community board where he demonstrated the leadership skills that propelled him to election by his colleagues as chairman.

Perry served five consecutive terms on the Brooklyn Borough board before being elected to the State Assembly in 1992 to represent the 58th Assembly District, which was newly reapportioned to Brooklyn. He was elected unopposed in November 2020 to his 15th consecutive two-year term. In 2020, he was elected and served as a Biden-pledged delegate.

He was named Legislator of the Year by the National Black Caucus of State Legislators in 2018 and has been recognised with honours from New York Civil Liberties Union and the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators, among others.

Perry is currently the assistant speaker pro tempore of the New York State Assembly, and a regional vice-chairman of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators. He serves on the New York State Assembly standing committees on rules, ways and means, codes, banks, labour, and transportation.

From 2015 to 2018, he was chairman of the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus, and also served as chairman of the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators, Inc from 2012-2015.

Yesterday, his former colleagues at the BITU, Pearnel Charles and Clifton Stone, who served with him, recalled Perry as a very promising trade unionist, and said they were caught by surprise when he left the union to move to the United States.

Stone was the first member of the union to serve as an ambassador when he was appointed to Caracas, Venezuela, in 2020.

“We didn’t learn as much as we could from him when he was with the union, because we were engaged in different areas of work, but we are happy that he was able to fine-tune those attributes and make such a huge success of it,” Stone said.

BITU President General Senator Kavan Gayle said that although Perry emigrated years before he joined the union, Perry’s memory still lives on at the union’s headquarters and the staff is filled with pride at his achievements.

“We know he is a man of the soil, and as a Jamaican coming back home in this important position, we are pleased to learn that he will be filling this very important vacancy,” Gayle said.

US Democratic Senate Majority Leader Charles “Chuck” Schumer of New York announced recently his support for Perry to be the next US envoy to Jamaica. He would be the first Jamaican to hold that post, replacing Ambassador Donald Tapia, who demitted office when President Biden stepped into the US presidency in January.

“I am proud to support New York State Assembly member Nick Perry to be the next US ambassador to Jamaica. Assembly member Perry has dedicated his life’s work to serving his constituents in the 58th district, and has fostered many deep and lasting cultural, economic and political connections between the United States and Jamaica, and that experience will make him an outstanding ambassador,” Schumer said.

He added that Perry “has a unique perspective and understanding of Jamaica, that would benefit both the United States and Jamaica in their deep and abiding partnership.

“The bottom line is that there is no one better prepared to go ‘down yard’ and represent the United States of America than Nick Perry, and I am very happy to support his candidacy,” Schumer said.

Perry and his wife Joyce reside in the East Flatbush neighbourhood of Brooklyn. His granddaughter is Roc Nation recording artiste Justine Skye.