KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Professor Aggrey Brown, the former Dean of Humanities and Education at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) has died. He was in his 70’s.
Brown, who served as the director of the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) for 22 years, died in the Tony Thwaites Wing of the University Hospital of the West Indies on Wednesday.
The cause of death was not disclosed.
“Professor Brown was the essence of CARIMAC, who demanded, and in fact got excellence from his students of media and communication. He was the standard bearer for journalism and media education in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean” said Jenni Campbell, President of the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ).
“The PAJ salutes Professor Brown as one who foresaw the explosion of technology long before many and helped journalists to look ahead and position themselves and the profession for the advent of social media and the digital age.”
She said he will be remembered by his students as “a stickler for detail, making no apology for marking them down to failure if necessary.
“Professor Brown provoked the debate which continues to rage today, about whether or not journalists we can be objective. His strong belief in the need for fair and balanced reporting, pushed against the ‘illusive’ notion of objectivity,” the PAJ said in a statement.
His successor, Dr. Canute James, said the Caribbean has lost one of its most accomplished educators in the field of media and communication.
“I have lost not only a guide and mentor, but also a very good friend,” said James.
Brown will be honoured posthumously by the PAJ during the National Journalism Week activities next week.
Brown also taught at universities in North America, including Howard, Princeton and Rutgers Universities and before joining CARIMAC in 1974, was a newspaper columnist, cameraman, radio announcer, news analyst. He also served as the host of the now defunct call in radio programme “The Public Eye”.
A past head boy of Cornwall College in the tourist resort town of Montego Bay, Brown authored several books and numerous articles, and presented several papers at local and international conferences.
