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Lowell Hawthorne to chair AFUWI board

Published:Sunday | April 10, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Lowell Hawthorne (centre), new chair of the American Foundation for the University of the West Indies Partnerships Board, with UWI Vice Chancellor Professor E. Nigel Harris (left), and former chairman of the board, Michael Flanigan, at the signing in 2010 of a memorandum of understanding under which Hawthorne committed $100,000 in scholarship funds to undergraduate students pursuing the social sciences at the UWI.- Contributed

Jamaican-born businessman Lowell Hawthorne, OD, may have left Jamaica 30 years ago, but the land of his birth is never far from his thoughts, and now he has agreed to share his considerable business and philanthropic acumen as the new chairman of the American Foundation for the University of the West Indies (AFUWI) Partnership Board.

He is well regarded as one of the United States of America's most successful black entrepreneurs. The international accounting firm Ernst & Young named Hawthorne Entrepreneur of the Year for the Tri-State area in 2002, and in 2003, Entrepreneur Magazine listed his the Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery and Grill the Top 500 Opportunities in the nation.

The restaurant chain is said to be the largest manufacturer, distributor and franchiser of Caribbean-based products in the US and, of course, Jamaican favourites like patties and jerked meats have given Golden Krust a very distinctive Jamaican flavour.

A product of St Andrew's Oberlin High School and in the US, the Bronx Community College, Baruch and Leahman Colleges and the City University of New York, Hawthorne got his early training in the art of baking from his father, Ephraim, who operated the successful Hawthorne & Sons Bakery in the Border community of St Andrew for many years.

Today, Hawthorne, founder-president and CEO of Golden Krust, with wife Lorna at his side, presides over 120 stores across nine states with an employment roll of more than 1,000.

His success has won him acclaim in major US media - FOX5 News, CNN, the New York Times, Black Enterprise Magazine and others. Jamaica has also taken notice of his success and his contributions. In 2005, he was conferred with the Order of Distinction, and in 2008, he was named Man of the Year by The Gleaner's North American Edition.

His visionary leadership is equally matched by a commitment to community in both the US and Jamaica. He is particularly passionate about education as evidenced by his establishment in 2006 of the Mavis & Ephraim Hawthorne Golden Krust Foundation in honour of his parents, which has already provided scholarships to more than 100 deserving high-school seniors on their way to college.

Hawthorne has also funded scholarships at the Bronx Community College and in Jamaica at his alma mater, Oberlin High and the University of the West Indies. In addition, Golden Krust has adopted two schools here - Norman Hawthorne Basic School and Paisley All-Age School.

Golden Krust is an active participant in the fight against cancer and, over the past three years, has contributed a percentage of its earnings on a designated product to the American Cancer Society.

Giving back to his community has become a way of life for Lowell Hawthorne and now he has set his sights on building the AFUWI and helping Jamaican and Caribbean scholars to achieve their true potential.