National Post (National Edition)
Founder of Sandals, Beaches resorts
Saved Jamaican economy many times
After making his fortune selling air-conditioning units, refrigerators and freezers on his native island of Jamaica, Gordon Stewart, known since childhood as “Butch,” founded the popular Sandals and Beaches resorts that were said to have made him a billionaire.
They were among the first in the Caribbean to offer “all-inclusive” vacations, with food and drinks free from their innovative swim-up pool bars.
As well as his resorts, he founded the daily Jamaica Observer. Leading a group of investors, he bought Air Jamaica in 1994 but it went out of business in 2015.
He twice put his money where his mouth was for Jamaica when its foreign currency holdings were low and democratic socialism was on the rise: first in the 1970s and '80s when he realized the island had to build tourism hotels. Then, in 1992, when the economy was threatened by currency speculators, he pumped US$30 million of his own money into Jamaican banks.
Stewart, 79, died Jan. 4 in Miami. No cause of death was given.
In May Stewart had donated US$31.5 million to Jamaican authorities to help families suffering from the pandemic.
Gordon Arthur Cyril Stewart was born in Kingston on July 6, 1941.
At age 10, he built himself a dugout canoe from a tree trunk; later he bought a bigger boat, and caught and sold fish to hotels. He also made decent bucks taking wealthy visitors from their yachts to shore and back.
He was in his early 20s when he saw a money-making opportunity while the first James Bond film, Dr. No, starring Sean Connery, was being shot in Jamaica. He borrowed his father's motorboat to take Connery and the film crew to location sites. He also spruced up dilapidated cars and sold them for a healthy profit.
In 1968 he set up his own company, Appliance Traders Ltd., to sell air-conditioning units, fridges and freezers, and it remains the parent company to Sandal Resorts International.
A son, Jonathan, died in 1989. Survivors include his third wife and seven children from his marriages; his mother; 12 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.