Rudyard "Ruddy" Spencer, (born 23 February 1944) is 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 former politician. A member of the

Jamaica Labour Party The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is one of the two major political parties in Jamaica, the other being the People's National Party (PNP). While its name might suggest that it is a social democratic party (as is the case for "Labour" parties in seve ...

(JLP), Spencer was first appointed to the Senate of Jamaica in 1993. Spencer was also a member of parliament for South East Clarendon for 18 years. He won every election he contested until his retirement from politics in February 2020.

Early life

Spencer was born on 23 February 1944 in

Grange Hill ''Grange Hill'' is a British Children's television series, children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical Comprehensive school (England and Wales), comprehensive school. The show began its ru ...

, Westmoreland, Jamaica. He was educated in

Medgar Evers College Medgar Evers College is a public college in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY), offering baccalaureate and associate degrees. It was officially established in 1970 through cooperation between educator ...

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...

, and graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

with a degree in industrial relations.

Career

In 1993, Spencer was appointed to the

Senate of Jamaica The Parliament of Jamaica is the legislative branch of the government of Jamaica. It consists of three elements: The Crown (represented by the Governor-General), the appointed Senate and the directly elected House of Representatives. The Se ...

. From 1995 to 1997, he was the Leader of the Opposition Business in the Senate. From 2002 to 2020, he was a member of parliament for South East Clarendon. Spencer served as the Minister of Health in Jamaica from 2007 to 2012. In 2016, he was appointed as Minister of Finance and the Public Service. Spencer also directed the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions and was a member of the Caribbean Congress of Labour. In February 2020, Spencer announced his retirement from electoral politics. Members of both the JLP and the PNP paid tribute to Spencer for his years of service. While awaiting his appointment to the Jamaican embassy in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

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, Spencer served as deputy chairman of the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT).

Recognition

In 1995, Spencer was awarded 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 ...

(Officer Class), and promoted to Commander Class in 2014 for "more than 20 years of distinguished service to parliament".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Rudyard Living people Members of the House of Representatives of Jamaica Government ministers of Jamaica 1944 births Ministers of Health of Jamaica