John Pringle was the epitome of glamour and chic. Or, it is perhaps that he knew how to conjure up this sense of the exquisite and had the ability to make us all feel that we were, and are a part of something special.

But John Pringle being John Pringle, he didn't work on a small canvas. And neither did he believe that his gift was his, to be utilised for himself.

Rather, John Pringle was of, and gave himself to Jamaica which he loved dearly and deeply. And he used his rare and special gift to the benefit of this country. He built on the pioneering work of the legendary Abe Issa of Tower Isle fame, the first chairman of the Jamaica Tourist Board whom he succeeded in the early 1960s. In the process he helped to launch Jamaica's modern tourism industry and created the foundation for what is, today, the key pillar of the island's economy.

Indeed, there is no disputing Mr. Pringle's bona fides. Halfway through the last century, he was one of the founders of Jamaica's then, and still, exclusive Round Hill Hotel and Villas in Hanover. The hotel's charm, glamour and exclusivity attracted the world's glitterati. Round Hill was featured in the picture magazine's like LIFE and Jamaica became a preferred destination for the stars.

But it is not only as a private hotelier that John Pringle offered Jamaica his skills. Between 1963 and 1967 he was Jamaica's first director of tourism, a period of rapid growth in tourism arrivals as Jamaica expanded its range of offerings. As Mr. Pringle's cousin, Frank, himself a former minister of tourism said, John was "the man who really established Brand Jamaica." Another famous Jamaica hotelier, Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, has credited John Pringle as a "trailblazer," who set up a structure at the Jamaica Tourist Board, which largely remains today.

John Pringle's interests, however, were catholic and he served Jamaica in several spheres, including as deputy high commissioner in Britain where he lived for the last three decades of his life. In the U.K. he was a major advocate for the country's interests, including the protection of the markets for bananas and sugar.

John Pringle died on Tuesday in London, aged 81. He suffered from Alzheimer's disease. His, while it lasted, was an outstanding life, during which he did good by Jamaica, of which, unfortunately, the latest generation of Jamaicans may not be fully aware.

We remember John Pringle for his many contributions and the fact that he was visionary, charming and debonair and for giving us a sense of what we, and our country, might be. Long may this vision sustain.

Tourism owes much to the foundation laid by the early pioneers like Abe Issa, linked to famous hotel landmarks at Tower Isle in St. Mary and the Myrtle Bank in Kingston. John Pringle and his contemporaries added an international cachet which drew the rich and famous to our fabulous beaches and vacation resorts.

Those who now preside over today's industry and seek to widen its scope and broaden its appeal, should be mindful of the new challenges that need sensitive planning to keep tourism as a vital tool of national development.