Gordon Stewart, who bought a rundown beachfront hotel in his native Jamaica and built it into a chain of all-inclusive resorts as the founder of Sandals Resorts International, died on Monday. He was 79. His death was confirmed in a statement by his family, who did not give a cause or say where he died, other than to say that he died in the United States. His son Adam Stewart said in an interview on Tuesday that his father’s death was related to a recent medical diagnosis that Mr. Stewart, who was known as Butch, had kept private because he did not want to “be anyone else’s burden.” “He didn’t even want his closest friends to worry for him,” Adam Stewart said. Despite his illness, Mr. Stewart had continued to work long hours until the end of his life, his son said. Adam Stewart became chairman of Sandals Resorts International after his father’s death. Mr. Stewart began his resorts business in 1981, when he took the money he had made selling air-conditioning units in Jamaica and invested it in developing a hotel on the island’s North Coast. Naming it Sandals Montego Bay, it would become the flagship resort of a chain of luxury vacation destinations. Sandals now operates 15 resorts, including six in Jamaica. Mr. Stewart established Sandals Resorts International with a couples-oriented focus before branching out with the more family-oriented Beaches Resorts. That business was in the process of expanding in St. Vincent and the Dutch island of Curaçao at his death, his family said. Credit…Chris Jackson/Getty Images Gordon Arthur Cyril Stewart was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on July 6, 1941, the oldest of three children of Gordon Leslie Stewart and Jean (Townsend) Stewart. He grew up in St. Ann Parish, on the island’s North Coast. The family struggled financially, and Mr. Stewart felt compelled from a young age to take an active role in supporting them. At 12, he began selling freshly caught fish to local hotels. “He always called himself an old fisherman,” his son said. “The first boat he had was a dugout canoe that he made out of an old tree.” Mr. Stewart studied in England for about a year when he was in his late teens. He returned to Jamaica and took a job at the Dutch-owned Curaçao Trading Company, where he became sales manager. But he itched to start his own company, the family said, and seized an opportunity in 1968 when he recognized the appeal of air-conditioning for people living in an island climate. He founded his first business, Appliance Traders Ltd., after he persuaded the Fedders Corp. of Edison, N.J., to allow him to represent the brand in Jamaica. From there, Mr. Stewart developed his overarching business philosophy: “Find out what people want, give it to them and, in doing so, exceed their expectations.” This at first involved being willing to install air-conditioners for his customers any time, day or night, his son said. Mr. Stewart’s work with the Sandals and Beaches resorts led to leadership roles in Jamaica’s tourism industry, including director of the Jamaica Tourist Board for a decade. In 1992, his Butch Stewart Initiative pumped $1 million a week into the foreign exchange market to help halt the slide of the Jamaican dollar. In 1994, he led a group of investors that took control of Air Jamaica, the Caribbean’s largest regional carrier. He put together an investment group that paid $37.5 million for 70 percent of the airline, giving himself a 46 percent stake. The move was the kind of grand public gesture that Mr. Stewart had become famous for. At the helm of the troubled state-owned airline, Mr. Stewart began adding routes and improving service. As part of the turnaround, he increased the airline’s revenue and grabbed market share from competitors. “One thing you have to give Butch Stewart, he is going to try everything to make the company work,” Peter J. Dolara, a senior vice president of American Airlines at the time, told The Times. “The man is a ferocious competitor.” In 2009, Mr. Stewart created the Sandals Foundation, which supports school construction, education and health care access on the islands where the company operates resorts. He was a recipient of Jamaica’s highest national distinctions, including the Order of Jamaica. In addition to his son Adam, he is survived by his wife, Cheryl; his mother, Jean; a sister, Pat; three other sons, Brian, Bobby and Gordon; his daughters, Jaime, Sabrina and Kelly; 12 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. A fifth son, Jonathan, died in a car accident in 1989. Mr. Stewart’s brother, Peter, died in 2004. Adam Stewart summed up his father’s work ethic as “grit, hard work, and put people first.” “He outworked the best of them,” the son said. “He always taught us that the fast road is not the right road.”
SOURCE: NY Times
