Former Jamaica Prime Minister PJ Patterson on Thursday described James Moss-Solomon as a towering Caribbean personality and said the region will miss his vision, strategic thinking, hands-on approach and world view.

Patterson, who was the island’s head of Government from 1992 to 2006, also remembered Moss-Solomon as the reliable go-to man when no one else could help.

Moss-Solomon, a former GraceKennedy executive who gave years of public service, died on January 4 after undergoing surgery.

Here is a lightly edited version of Patterson’s tribute.

No one could have braced themselves for the shocking news at the start of the new year to learn of the sudden passing of Jimmy Moss-Solomon.

One glowing tribute after another, so deservedly earned, attested to his multifaceted interests in so many aspects of national life — his outstanding success in business, dedication to human resource management, devotion to public service and civil society, his penetrating analysis in well-written columns, nor his endearing qualities as a human being who reflected the tenets of integrity, principle and simply one who enjoyed life to the fullest.

It is to this avalanche of glowing reflections I am obliged to add yet another facet of his massive contribution — his presidency of the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC).

James Moss-Solomon was so much of a Jamaican icon that we often fail to recognise that he was also a towering Caribbean personality. He took the presidency of the CAIC at a time when the regional bodies — the CAIC and the Caribbean Congress of Labour — had lost their punch with the Caribbean Community policymakers. He recognised that with their consultative status several heads of government were no longer giving full attention to their submissions.

In his typical no-nonsense manner, as leader of the CAIC delegation, he made it pellucidly clear to the heads of government at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Patrick Manning that the region could not advance to a meaningful single market and economy unless the social partners were integrally involved. The conference was not only forced to engage but to agree to grant them observer status with the right to speak.

He recognised that the problem was on both sides. The private sector, at the regional level, was neither organised nor resourced to make the contribution required on behalf of its diverse membership. It was from that deep understanding that he proposed the creation of a Caribbean Business Council. He was then tasked to give substance to the proposal. Not one to back down, he agreed to lead the study commissioned by Caribbean Export, which produced the report ‘CARICOM-CARIFORUM Public Private Sector Dialogue: A Roadmap for Re-engagement’.

Final decision on the report and its effective implementation would honour his memory.

Since our retirement and as a former president of the CAIC, he continuously shared his vision with me that the region needed to organise itself not only to have regional trade missions but regional trade offices in strategic centres; and regional business people needed to cultivate an entrepreneurial nature which would enable them to produce for the world.

He was prepared to have CAIC sponsor a study on the attitude towards entrepreneurship. He was deeply concerned at the increasing financial strains on the CAIC and feared its possible disintegration. He made several efforts to revive it, but to no avail. He was also disappointed that the single market had not gained the market expansion which was a first envisaged.

The region will miss the vision, strategic thinking, hands-on approach and world view of James Moss-Solomon.

I could not possibly end without expressing the depth of my personal loss — the stimulating telephone conversations, the bonhomie and the reliability as a “go-to man” when no one else could help.

Jamaica has lost a dedicated son who called it as he saw it, without fear or devoid of rancour but with the sole intention of pointing our nation to achieve our full potential.

I extend my heartfelt sympathy to his entire family, his colleagues and the clan of Jimmy’s friends to which I also belong.