Gladstone Mills OJ OD (12 February 1920 – 26 September 2004)Rose, Dionne.
Professor Gladstone Mills dies
", ''The Jamaica Gleaner'', 27 September 2004. was a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n academic, sportsman, and public servant.

Early life

Born in Clarendon, Jamaica,Schaffler, Rhonda. "This Day in Our Past", ''The Gleaner'' (Jamaica), 12 February 2003. Gladstone Mills was the son of Gilbert Mills, a policeman, and Josephine Payton-Mills."Tribute to great patriot, scholar", ''The Gleaner'' (Jamaica), 1 October 2004, "Deaths and Memorials" section, p. B11. His younger brother

Don Mills Don Mills is a mixed-use neighbourhood in the North York district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was developed to be a self-supporting " new town" and was at the time located outside Toronto proper. In 1998, North York, including the Don Mills c ...

went on to enjoy a notable career in public service,Gladstone Mills dies at 84
", ''The Jamaica Observer'', 27 September 2004. including a post as Jamaica's

Ambassador to the United Nations A permanent representative to the United Nations (sometimes called a "UN ambassador")"History of Ambassadors", United States Mission to the United Nations, March 2011, webpagUSUN-a. is the head of a country's diplomatic mission to the United Nati ...

. Gladstone was known to his friends as "Charlie". He received his secondary education at

Jamaica College Jamaica College (abbreviated J.C. or JC) is a public, Christian, secondary school and sixth form for boys in Kingston, Jamaica. It was established in 1789 by Charles Drax, who was the grand-nephew of wealthy Barbadian sugar planter J ...

, where he was

head boy Head boy and head girl are student leadership roles in schools, representing the school's entire student body. They are normally the most senior prefects in the school. The terms are commonly used in the British education system as well as in Aus ...

and

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

teams.Davidson, Taneisha.
Gladstone Mills hailed for his integrity, fairness and dedication
", ''The Jamaica Observer'', 7 October 2004. He then attended the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, where he founded the West Indian Students Union.

Academic career

Mills spent many years teaching at the

Mona, Jamaica Mona is a neighbourhood in southeastern Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica, Saint Andrew Parish, approximately eight kilometres from Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica. A former sugarcane Sugar plantations in the Caribbean, plantation, it is the sit ...

, campus of the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...

. There, he was a

senior lecturer Senior lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, and Israel senior lecturer is a faculty position at a university or similar institution. The position is tenured (in systems with this concep ...

from 1960 to 1965, a full professor from 1965 to 1990, and a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

for the remainder of his life. During his time with UWI, he served as head of the school's Department of Government from 1963 to 1980, and as

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of its Faculty of Social Sciences from 1967 to 1970. Under Mills, the school introduced its

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

, master's degree and doctoral programmes in the field of

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...

Public service

Michael Manley Michael Norman Manley (10 December 1924 – 6 March 1997) was a Jamaican politician who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1972 to 1980 and from 1989 to 1992. Manley championed a democratic socialist program, and has been d ...

appointed Mills as the first chairman of Jamaica's Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC), a position that he assumed in 1973 and held until 1979. This organisation helped defuse the political violence that was then rampant in Jamaica, by pursuing electoral reforms and taking control of Jamaica's electoral process away from politicians, placing it instead in the hands of a body that included not only political representatives but also independent, impartial members. In a 1995 speech, Manley, the long-time leader of the

People's National Party The People's National Party (PNP) is a Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Jamaica, political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by independence campaigner Osmond Theodore Fairclough. It holds 14 of the 63 seats in ...

, was effusive in his praise for Mills's work with the EAC:

It says everything about Gladstone Mills that at a time of genuine crisis in Jamaica, the two political parties accepted him to be chairman of the Electoral Advisory Committee ... History will say that this may have been Mills' greatest single contribution to his nation. The emergence of the Jamaican democracy from the storm of the late '70s to the relative calm of today's politics owes much to his cool guidance and this flashpoint in our political process. Now we debate public indifference to politics; not whether we can survive them.

In a speech at Mills's funeral in 2004, Opposition Leader

Edward Seaga Edward Philip George Seaga ( or ; 28 May 1930 – 28 May 2019) was a Jamaican politician. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Jamaica, from 1980 to 1989, and the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party from 1974 to 2005.Jamaica Labour Party voiced a similar opinion:

" illswas always fair and was a symbol of non-partisanship... His role at the Electoral Advisory Committee since 1979 will forever be the apex of his career in public service. His iron integrity, steady demeanour, and excellent management crafted the EAC into one of the most important and highly regarded bodies in public life, giving Jamaica a model for problem-solving which may be applied to other areas.

Cricket

Mills was a left-arm spin bowler in Jamaica in the 1940s, and on two occasions he dismissed a notable batsman for a "

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

George Headley George Alphonso Headley OD, MBE (30 May 1909 – 30 November 1983) was a West Indian cricketer who played 22 Test matches, mostly before World War II. Considered one of the best batsmen to play for the West Indies and one of the greatest crick ...

in a Senior Cup match in 1943, and

Everton Weekes Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes, KCMG, GCM, OBE (26 February 19251 July 2020) was a cricketer from Barbados. A right-handed batsman, he was known as one of the hardest hitters in world cricket. Weekes holds the record for consecutive Test hundre ...

in a match in London in 1950. After the end of his playing career, he enjoyed a long tenure as a member of the board of the

Jamaica Cricket Association The Jamaica national cricket team or officially the Jamaica Scorpions, is the representative first-class cricket team representing Jamaica at the West Indies domestic competitions. History The team's history goes back to 1895, when they play ...

Awards and honours

In 1975, Mills was honoured with the

Order of Distinction The Order of Distinction is a national order in the Jamaican honours system. It is the sixth in order of precedence of the Orders of Societies of Honour, which were instituted by an Act of Parliament (''The National Honours and Awards Act'') i ...

in recognition of his "services in the field of Education and Public Administration". In 1989, his work in these areas was further recognised with the

Order of Jamaica The Order of Jamaica is the fifth of the six orders in the Jamaican honours system. The Order was established in 1969, and it is considered the equivalent of a knighthood in the British honours system. Membership in the Order can be conferred upon ...

."The Honours List", ''The Gleaner'' (Jamaica), 7 August 1989, p. 8.

Publications

Mills published his autobiography, ''Grist for the Mills: Reflections on a Life'', in Jamaica in 1994.

Death

Mills died at his home in Acadia Gardens in Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica, on the morning of 26 September 2004, as a result of coronary problems. He was survived by his two sons,

Charles Wade Sir Charles Gregory Wade KCMG, KC, JP (26 January 1863 – 26 September 1922) was Premier of New South Wales – 21 October 1910. According to Percival Serle, "Wade was a public-spirited man of high character. His ability, honesty and cou ...

and Raymond.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Gladstone 1920 births 2004 deaths Alumni of the University of London Jamaican academics Jamaican cricketers Jamaican cricket administrators Members of the Order of Jamaica Recipients of the Order of Distinction Public administration scholars Academic staff of the University of the West Indies Jamaican expatriates in the United Kingdom