JAMAICA | PJ Patterson pays tribute to the late Professor "Winty" Davidson, CD

The man I knew for the past 50 years made sure to acquaint me with every detail of his life during those years where that privilege of friendship did not exist. 

He explained that his sartorial elegance was because he was the son of a Master Tailor;   hence his preference for the hand knotted bow-tie rather than the neck tie for ordinary  men.

Of course you were given, time and again, the full account of every football game won by the 1964 K.C. Team. 

Many thought the victories were due to the goals scored by the aggressive forward line: it was actually the result of an impregnable defense orchestrated by his command at Left Back.

Winston George Mendes Davidson – Husband, Father, Brother, Scholar, Tutor, Mentor, Orator, Cantor, Pioneer Philanthropist, Councillor, Advisor, Professor, Physician.   I have lost a Brother, Comrade and irreplaceable Friend.

Within that imposing and stately frame, beat a caring heart:  there resided a fertile mind and an indomitable, generous spirit for humanity, peace and social justice. 

Gifted with a brilliant intellect and fueled by exuberant energy, his preparedness to serve wherever the call of duty appeared, resulted in his engagement which ranged from the Public Health Clinic on Slipe Pen Road to the Panels of the United Nations as an Expert on Drug Abuse.

His mental acuity enabled him to make penetrating analyses of medical, social and political issues – his patriotic fortitude impelled him to find reasoned and practical solutions that crossed a gamut of institutional boundaries.  He was an exemplary public servant, dedicated to uplift the society at large from the scourge of poverty, disease, ignorance and injustice.

Many of our medical practitioners, particularly in the fields of Public Health and Epidemiology, are the beneficiaries of his pedagogic tutelage.  For generations to come, others will benefit from the traditions of his didactic style and instructive mentorship.

A man of exquisite and discerning taste  in music, wine and cuisine, he was also a raconteur of class.  He possessed a propensity for esoteric discourse and often indulged in the dialectics of religion, philosophy, and political ideology with those he regarded as equally equipped..

For the entire Davidson clan, hold your heads high.  You know exactly what he demands each of you to do yourself and together for each other until,  with redeeming grace, you meet with him again on yonder shore.

Professor Winston George Mendes Davidson has already entered that bright and New Jerusalem of which he sang so touchingly during his earthly sojourn.

Champion, Farewell

The one and only “Winty” has departed –

But his memory will forever endure.