FORMER Goodyear and IGL Managing Director Peter Graham has awarded scholarships to two grade eight students at Kingston College (KC) in memory of his mother Norma Pinto, to whom he attributes his academic and corporate achievements.

“The Norma Pinto Memorial Scholarships aim to take students who are performing at or below average and provide them with financial and emotional support to help them realise their full potential for greatness later,” Graham, a KC old boy, told the Jamaica Observer, adding that the scholarships are valued at $100,000 per annum each for four years.

“The two students are both from single-parent homes. In one case, the single parent is a father who has been unemployed due to illness from 2021, and the student is quite concerned about his father’s inability to assist him financially. That results in, despite proven potential, lower grades. This student resides in Waterhouse. The second lives with his mother, father deceased, and she struggles to provide adequately for him,” added Graham, whose empathy for children from single-parent homes has its foundation in his experience.

“I lost my father when I was eight years old; he was shot and killed,” he shared. “I grew up in Waterhouse, raised by a single mother who imparted strong values, discipline, and the need for a sound education.”

He attended Drews Avenue Primary School and in 1975 went to KC where his academic performance, he said, was considered average.

“Despite this, my mother maintained her deep belief in me that I would excel. While not representing KC in any sporting discipline, I deeply embraced the concept of winning and developed a mindset of playing to win, not playing to play, and that would serve me well in my professional life. In difficult moments the school’s motto — Fortis cadere, cedere non potest (The brave may fall but never yield) — provided the determination to go on,” Graham shared.

“At the end of sixth form I unilaterally took the decision not to apply for admission to university. My thinking was that my mother had struggled and done her best for a long time enough. I was 19 years old and would gain employment to finance myself and assist her. When she found out she was most upset and insisted that I go to university. That taught me the concept of perseverance through hardship for longer to pursue a greater reward later,” he said.

“Despite being average in high school, I completed the BSc in Mechanical Engineering with honours and an MBA that provided the platform for a successful career in the corporate world,” he said.

That resulted in him being appointed managing director of Goodyear Jamaica Limited at age 34. Subsequently he held the positions of CEO of Massy Gas Products Jamaica; CEO, Massy Gas Products Trinidad; executive chairman, Massy Industrial Gases Line of Business; and managing director, IGL Limited.

Graham was also chairman of Jamaica Biscuit Company Limited, chairman of St Patrick’s Foundation, chairman of St Catherine Preparatory School, and served the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce in many capacities up to the level of first vice-president.

“None of that would have been possible without the commitment and determination of my mother, Norma Pinto, in my early years,” he said, adding that she died on April 19, 2025.

Giving a further rationale for the scholarships, Graham said: “Some students — often from financially challenged homes — are not performing at their full potential for a variety of reasons. Some are simply winners that are disguised as losers but, if given the opportunity and encouragement, can go on to excel in their personal and professional lives.”

PINTO… imparted strong values, discipline, and the need for a sound education to her son, Peter Graham