Colin Cholmondeley

Colin Hilaire Cholmondeley was born on July 23, 1941, in Bagotsville, Guyana, to Mae Edna Cholmondeley née Fraser and Hugh Martin Emmanuel (Maybrick) Cholmondeley. He passed into eternity at 9:45am on August 1, 2019, at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada, after a valiant fight against the ravages of clinical depression, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer.

Colin was educated at Comenius Moravian and Bedford Methodist primary schools, and at Queen’s College from 1953 to 1959. He later earned an Air Traffic Control Licence (1961) from the Federal Aeronautical Institute in Oklahoma City, USA; and a BS in Industrial Engineering (1969) and a MS in Business & Economics (1971) from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, USA.

In Guyana, Colin worked as an Air Traffic Controller (1961-1965); Lecturer in Management Studies at the University of Guyana (1975-1978), and officer at the American Life Insurance Company (ALICO), where he rose from Sales Representative to General Manager in 1978. In 1979, he was appointed ALICO’s Caribbean Regional Administrator and was based, at various times, in USA, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago. Between 1994 and 2003, Colin was Senior Manager for the Mustard Seed Communities, a charitable, non-governmental community development organization in Kingston, Jamaica. During his time at Mustard Seed, he created Roots FM 96.1, the only inner-city community radio station in the Caribbean.

Colin was always engaged in the social and political currents of the communities in which he lived. In the late 1970’s, this commitment, and his friendship with the late Walter Rodney, led to a confrontation with the Government of Guyana, and eventually to his exile in 1979.

Colin married Janette Henery in 1964, and they were blessed with two children, André and Lisa. His second marriage to Zandra Abrams in 1975 was blessed with a daughter, Maritsa. More than a decade after this marriage ended, Colin met Jocelyne Josiah. After a whirlwind courtship, they were married in London within weeks of that first meeting in 1992! Thus began a period of almost three decades of mutual love, commitment, spiritual partnership and adventure. Jocelyne’s work as a senior professional at UNESCO took the couple to various corners of the globe, particularly in South Asia and the Caribbean.

Colin was predeceased by his parents, his siblings Hugh and Yvonne, and his former wife, Janette. He is survived by his loving wife Jocelyne; children André, Lisa and Maritsa; brother Keith and his wife Sarah; sister-in-law Marieanne; uncle, Ovid Fraser and his wife Madge; aunt, Neila Cholmondeley; many nieces, nephews and cousins, as well as his multitude of friends.

In the weeks before his death, Colin enjoyed the visits of many relatives and friends to his “penultimate bed of repose” (a phrase he himself used in his eulogy for his older brother 7 years ago). Even when his medical condition rendered him generally unresponsive in his final days, he was able to respond joyfully to the offer from a dear friend to belly-dance for him, and the visit from Father Gregory Ramkissoon, his spiritual counselor and the Director of Mustard Seed.

Colin was a vibrant presence in the lives of many and he will be sorely missed.