MoBay stalwart McIntosh Nash loses battle with cancer

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:Renowned community leader Marilyn McIntosh Nash, the administrator of the Flankers Peace and Justice Centre in St James, is dead. She died at the Cornwall Regional Hospital on the morning of April 14 after a protracted battle with cancer.

"This is a deep shock to me. I knew she was ailing, but, nonetheless, her passing has come as a big shock to me," said Montego Bay's mayor, Councillor Glendon Harris. "The city has lost a genuine community leader, one who gave her life to community upliftment."

McIntosh Nash, born to Genieve and Lawrence McIntosh in 1965, started work in community life at the age of 12 when she was selected to serve as the recording secretary for the Flankers Community Council.

The former Montego Bay High School for Girls prefect and house captain was seen as a natural leader in her community and was regularly considered to spearhead numerous projects aimed at improving life in the inner-city community.

To many, McIntosh Nash's most profound contribution to Flankers, and by extension, Montego Bay, was the pivotal role she played in the establishment of the Flankers Peace and Justice Centre 13 years ago.

The centre was established by the Dispute Resolution Foundation, under the Canadian International Development Agency-sponsered Social Conflict and Legal Reform project, in collaboration with the citizens' association of Flankers, which McIntosh Nash then served as president.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES

McIntosh Nash was asked to head the peace and justice centre, which had as part of its mandate the training of community persons as mediators and the setting up of a mediation centre.

In addition to mediation, with the assistance of the Sandals Foundation, McIntosh Nash revolutionised the centre as in addition to handling matters relating to crime reduction and conflict resolution, she also established educational programmes for all ages, a homework club, GSAT (Grade Six Achievement Test) preparation, homework assistance for high school students, Caribbean Examinations Council classes, and skills training.

McIntosh Nash also served the wider community as part of the St James Peace Management Initiative, Youth Crime Watch of Jamaica, secretary of the Lay Magistrates' Association of Jamaica, choir director of Faith Baptist Church, and president of the Flankers Development Committee.

She was the recipient of several community awards including the Flankers Community Heroes Award; Sam Sharpe Award for Community Service 2004; Kiwanis Club of Providence International Women's Day awardee 2010; North Coast Times Women of Worth awardee 2010; and the most recent, Social Development Commission award for community service in 2011.