Oliver Clarke, former Chairman of RJRGLEANER Group, has died.

Oliver Clarke, former Chairman of the RJRGLEANER Communications Group, has died.

Mr Clarke passed away at his St Andrew Home on Saturday after battling cancer some time. He was 75.

Oliver Clarke is perhaps best known for his leadership roles at Jamaica National and in media at The Gleaner Company, which began in 1976 and lasted more than 40 years.

As the new Managing Director that year he was given the task to turn the newspaper’s fortunes around, and two years later he issued a debenture for four million dollars, with which The Gleaner paid off its debts and widened its shareholder base.

Eventful journey

This was only the latest step on an eventful journey for Oliver Frederick Clarke.

He was born on October 19, 1944 to Eric Hugh Clarke and his wife Zena, nee Whitelocke. They were from Westmoreland, but he was born in Kingston.

He attended DeCarteret College in Mandeville for his high school education then Sherborne College in England and London School of Economics, from where he graduated with a degree in Economics.

JN

On his return to Jamaica in 1969 he joined the family business at Westmoreland Building Society as Assistant General Manager. He became General Manager in 1971 and by 1974 had grown the institution into what became internationally known as Jamaica National Building Society, now JN Bank, and its various subsidiary companies.

He held the position of Chairman of JNBS from 1977 to 1997, and served as Deputy Chairman from 1997 until 2002, when he was reappointed Chairman. 

On February 1, 2017, he was appointed Chairman of the newly launched subsidiary, the Jamaica National Bank, as well as the restructured mutual holding company, The Jamaica National Group and the JN Financial Group. 

He was also the Chairman of JN Money Services Ltd. (JNMS), the parent company of the JNMS Overseas companies in the United States of America, Canada and the United Kingdom, and also served as a director of JN Small Business Loans Limited.

Gleaner

Oliver Clarke’s Gleaner Company angered the government of Prime Minister Michael Manley in the late 1970s because of its reporting and commentaries on the Democratic Socialist administration, culminating in a march on the paper’s North Street office, led by the prime minister in 1979.

It was during that period that the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica was established and he was a leading member of that initiative, eventually becoming its president.

Oliver Clarke served the public in various capacities.

In 2003 he was asked by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson to chair a Parliamentary Salaries Review Committee and produced a wide-ranging report, including recommendations for a new Parliament building.

Transition

But his leadership of the Gleaner through various phases of transition remained of paramount importance to Oliver Clarke.

That culminated in the merger of the RJR Communications Group and the Gleaner’s media business in 2016.

He initially served as deputy chairman of the merged entity – The RJRGLEANER Communications Group - then succeeded J.A. Lester Spaulding as Chairman for a short stint before he retired.