Jean Bryan remembered for mentoring C’bean students
NEW YORK-BASED BUSINESSMAN Vincent Hosang has praised the late Jean Pinnock Bryan, wife of former New York Consul General Ambassador Basil Bryan, as a diligent fellow worker at activities and events staged to benefit the diaspora communities overseas.
“Mrs Bryan was like family. [We’ve] been together for many years through Penn Relays and Independence balls. She will be sadly missed,” Hosang said.
Bryan died on May 25 in Miami, Florida. She is especially remembered for her work with and mentorship of Caribbean students at Howard University, where she served as guidance counsellor and later director of the Educational Advisory Center of the Howard University College of Arts and Sciences. She retired in 2007.
Irwine Clare, director of Team Jamaica Bickle, which directly supports Jamaican and Caribbean students at the popular Penn Relays carnival held annually in the United States, said Bryan “has influenced many to greatness and to realise their full potential. So yes, she lives on. Rest in peace, ‘mother to many’”.
Former student and mentee Kamilah Rose Distant, MD, said, “Auntie Jean was a beautiful soul who influenced my time at Howard University and helped mould me into the woman I am today.”
Jean is survived by her husband of 51 years, Ambassador Dr Basil K. Bryan, and sons Kwame and Diallo.