News that National Baking Company Chairman and CEO Gary “Butch” Hendrickson is among the eight Jamaicans invested with the Order of Jamaica on this year’s National Honours and Awards list came as no surprise to people who know him.

But to Hendrickson — a man with a deep passion for Jamaica and who invests heavily in education, particularly at the early childhood level, while continuing to help many young entrepreneurs — the recognition came as a shock.

“I never saw this coming,” Hendrickson told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday from his hotel in London.

“Oh my God, you must be kidding,” Hendrickson told the Jamaican official who had called to inform him that he has been made a member of the country’s fifth-highest order “For sterling contributions to entrepreneurship and philanthropy”.

He said that when his phone rang and he saw that the call was coming from Jamaica he answered thinking that maybe something had gone wrong here.

“It was never a thought; it wasn’t something that I ever thought about,” said Hendrickson, who has been at the helm of Jamaica’s largest baking company for more than three decades.

Reacting to the news, Sandals Resorts International Executive Chairman Adam Stewart said he was thrilled to congratulate Hendrickson whom he described as “the ultimate entrepreneur and exceptional patriot”.

“To see, share and appreciate his dedication, vision and meticulous approach to business and nation building is an amazing gift to us all. He has and continues to selflessly mentor so many of the next generation, including myself,” added Stewart, who is also executive chairman of this newspaper, as well as the Appliance Traders Limited Group.

“His love for country and everything Jamaican is the greatest inspiration and the ultimate example of next generational excellence. I am honoured and humbled to call him a dear friend,” said Stewart, who is a member of the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander.

Hendrickson was also heartily congratulated by Brian Jardim, founder and CEO of Rainforest Seafoods Ltd.

“A man among men, innovator, super benevolent, friend for life, consummate father, and family man,” was how Jardim described Hendrickson.

Jardim, too, pointed to Hendrickson’s strong sense of patriotism, adding that Hendrickson’s “word is his bond” and that he is a man who “cares deeply for his team, has a great sense of humour, and is solution oriented”.

“We have done business and owned assets together for decades and Butch has been honourable and decent in every instance. As our late chairman [Gordon “Butch” Stewart] used to say, ‘when you’re going back to back to fight… Butchie is the guy you want standing behind you, he will always be there for you’,” added Jardim, who is also a member of the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander.

Hendrickson is now engaged in a multi-billion-dollar expansion of National Baking Company that includes a state-of the-art bakery at Catherine Hall in Montego Bay that, he says, will be equipped with advanced technology rivalling any similar factory on Earth and create employment for at least 75 highly skilled Jamaicans, initially.

The plant will also enhance National’s capability to export from Montego Freeport to meet the demands of its growing market overseas and complement the construction of a new distribution centre in Priory, St Ann, and another in Mandeville, Manchester.

Over the years, Hendrickson has also invested more than $120 million in a manufacturing programme named ‘The Bold Ones’ which has helped small local manufacturers gain exposure through marketing and extensive publicity.

The programme is said to have created more than 500 jobs.

In 2015, his Continental Baking Company Foundation launched a two-day expo, named ‘A Jamaican Made Christmas’, designed to drive sales of Jamaican products and expose small and medium-sized manufacturers.

Hendrickson, who conceptualised the event, said his aim was also to help small and medium-sized businesses get to the stage of exporting their products overseas.

He also serves on a slew of boards in the public and private sectors, among them the EX-IM Bank, Bank of Jamaica, Rainforest Seafoods, and Stationery & Office Supplies Ltd.

Hendrickson, though, is known for his dedication to the development of education and has taken on projects in that regard with his good friend and fellow business leader Glen Christian, founder and chairman of Cari-Med Group of companies, who is also a member of the Order of Jamaica.

On Tuesday, Hendrickson said that there is still a lot of work to be done to improve the educational output for the country’s children. He said that he and Christian will continue to push hard to achieve this ideal.

“Glen is so passionate because he came from nowhere to where he is now, and he got there with education and hard work,” Hendrickson noted.

“If the country thinks enough of me to give me this award I say thank you; thank you to Jamaica. I also thank the customers who tolerate us; even through the worst times they’ve stood by us. We’ve been very fortunate, extremely so,” said Hendrickson who in 2014 was invested with Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander.