Bernard Jankee, former director of the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica/Jamaica Memory Bank (ACIJ/JMB), died Wednesday evening after a short illness. He was 63.

Jankee, who was hospitalised in February but had recently been discharged, died at his home in St Andrew.

News of his passing shocked the Freemasons fraternity and his former colleagues at the African Caribbean Institute as they had been encouraged by the recovery he was making.

A Kingston College (KC) old boy, Jankee was a founder of the Kingston College Lodge which he served as master in the 2008-2009 administration. He was also a member and past master of The Royal Lodge.

Described as a “wonderful, committed and knowledgeable mason”, Jankee was the active senior warden in the District of Jamaica and Cayman Island at the time of his passing.

Reflecting on Jankee’s four decades of service in the culture and communication sectors, Kesia Weise, secretary, Jamaican Historical Society of Jamaica and senior research fellow at the ACIJ/JMB, pointed out that he worked at then Jamaica Information Service in 1981 as a communications media officer in the Publications and Advertising Division after completing his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mass Communication at The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Mona.

He later attained a Master of Philosophy in Government at The UWI followed by a Master of Arts in the Anthropology of Media at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

“His experience and education landed him jobs in the Office of the Prime Minister where he first served as an administrator in the Division of Culture and then as director of information, and at Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication, now Caribbean School of Media and Communication as trainer/facilitator in video production and media in education,” Weise said.

He also worked at the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation where he directed a television documentary, titled Living Legends: The Hon Miss Lou, featuring folklorist Louise Bennett-Coverley.

The documentary was produced on commission by Caribbean Images Limited where Jankee had worked previously for four years.

During his tenure at Caribbean Images Limited he was instrumental in a number of productions, including Poems from Jamaica, a video anthology of poems by noted Jamaican poet Lorna Goodison, which he co-produced and directed; a programme series Caricom Perspectives for the Caricom Secretariat, which highlighted different aspects of the organisation’s work in the region, and Fi Mi Love a documentary series on Jamaican folk music which he produced in collaboration with the Jamaica Folk Singers.

“Throughout his early professional life, culture was always at the core of all the projects he was engaged in. So it was no wonder then that in 1995 he was appointed as director of the ACIJ/JMB, a division of the Institute of Jamaica, where he spent the rest of his civil service engagements overseeing the research and documentation of African cultural heritage and the preservation, in general, of the nation’s intangible cultural heritage,” Weise stated.

He served as Jamaica’s representative on the Intergovernmental Committee of the Convention for Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage and was rapporteur to the committee from 2018 to 2022.

“Under his stewardship, the integration of the Jamaica Memory Bank into the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica was successful. He also established an integrated computerised network linking the research, library and administrative work of the division, successfully raised millions of dollars from external funders to address various project needs; facilitated the successful restoration and subsequent establishment of Liberty Hall, the legacy of Marcus Garvey, which was later recognised as a project of the ACIJ/JMB,” Weise said.

She also said that Jankee was a member of the technical committee involved in preparing the documentation for Jamaica’s successful nomination of the Blue and John Crow Mountains for inscription as a world heritage site.

Additionally, he chaired the technical committee responsible for the nomination of Reggae Music to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Describing Jankee’s career and achievements in culture as “illustrious” Weise said it was not surprising that after he retired in September 2022 “he decided to dedicate his time to serving the Jamaican Historical Society and was elected unanimously as president in 2023”.

However, ill health forced him to resign as president in early January 2024.

Weise, on behalf of the Jamaican Historical Society, saluted Jankee “for his dedication to documenting and promoting Jamaica’s history and heritage” and expressed condolence to his family and friends”.