Rolf Lanigan remembered for his ‘capacity to give’
“AHERO!” That’s how Kim Smith described her late father, Rolf Lanigan, a former senior partner of global auditing firm KPMG.
“Our daddy was so very patient. Whenever we stumbled, he would be there with good advice,” Smith told mourners last Friday at the Stella Maris Roman Catholic Church in St Andrew.
“If we were upset, he would say, ‘Don’t worry about it. You do what you know is right and keep trying. Always try; never give up, my pet,’” she added.
Lanigan, who died peacefully on March 1, was 80. He left behind three daughters, including Heather and Karen.
Smith also praised her father’s benevolence, saying that he was “someone to follow, admire, be proud of and brag about”.
“If you needed help or advice, he was there, but never telling you what to do,” she said. “He had an enormous capacity to give. Dad was always there for everyone: family, friends, colleagues, neighbours and even strangers.”
Besides his role at KPMG, Lanigan was a long-standing member of the Public Accountancy Board and gave key contributions to much-needed reforms related to legislation. He also served as a member of the Council of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica between 1978 and 1984 and was chairman of its Joint Taxation and Accounting Standards Committee from 1982-1983.
He was made Honourable Auditor by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica in 1976.
In a message from KPMG, Lanigan was described as “a true gentleman and someone who personified the KPMG values before they were codified and published”. According to the firm, “He was simply a class act!”