Prime Minister Mia Mottley today paid tribute to the late Ralph “Bruggadung” Johnson whom she described as “a very successful post-Independence industrialist of Barbados”.
Johnson passed away today at age 80.
Mottley spoke of Johnson’s role as chairman and chief executive officer of the Harris Group of Companies where he would have led the way in its products moving from local to international markets and the business now being a household name at home and abroad.
“But for all his successes as a manufacturer, you cannot chronicle his life’s journey without pausing to consider his considerable achievements in, and contribution to, sports in this country,” Mottley said in a statement.
“For more than two decades, starting in 1986, he sat as a member of the board of the National Olympic Committee and was a principal architect in the founding of the local lottery, from which sports was always a major beneficiary.
“Bruggadung has also been president of the Barbados Yachting Association, the Barbados Squash Rackets Association, the Caribbean Area Squash Rackets Association and the Caribbean Yachting Association. In his younger days, he played basketball, football, water polo and squash and was also known as an avid motor racing competitor, with his colleagues in the Barbados Rally Club describing him as a spectacular driver.”
For his excellence in both spheres he was awarded the Gold Crown of Merit in 1997.
Mottley said Bruggadung was Bajan “and you could not miss it in the way he interacted with others. He was Bajan by name and by nature and anyone who knew him knew that what you saw was what you got with him”.
The Prime Minister extended sympathies to the Johnson and Straker families, his wife Isabelle; children Jason, Jade, James, Tracy and Amanda; brother Paul Johnson and sisters Lady Straker, Rosemarie Smith and Diane Primo. (PR/SAT)
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