- Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
McConnell, managing director of both J. Wray and Nephew and Lascelles de Mercado, says that he is an eternal optimist.
Avia Ustanny, Outlook writer
DAPPERLY DRESSED in black for the business day, William McConnell, managing director of Lascelles de Mercado and J.Wray and Nephew is the picture of good health and he is proud of it. This was not always so.
Now, within kissing distance of 60, McConnel remembers the shock he felt when, at the age of 27, he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He did extensive surgery to remove it.
Ten years later, a short while after throwing a party to celebrate the fact that the cancer had not returned in a decade, he was advised by the doctor that it had indeed made its reappearance.
McConnell told Outlook, "I consider myself to be a lucky man today."
He was saved by the surgeons. Again.
What he considers to be one of the most brilliant gathering of surgeons at the University Hospital of the West Indies divided into two teams operated on him simultaneously for more than 10 hours.
They removed every remaining bit of his colon, including some cells which were not cancerous but had the potential to become so.
Now, 16 years later he is cancer free and has felt no need to reduce his work pace by one iota, and crediting his healthy status to the wisdom of doctors and his own penchant for positive thinking.
Unchanged
His outlook has remain unchanged, basically from the years of Munro College.
William McConnell was born in Montego Bay on February 20, 1947 to the David McConnell and Elizabeth McConnell.
Educated at Munro College, then Dean Close School in Cheltenham, England, and McGill University in Montreal, Canada, he became a chartered accountant. When he returned to Jamaica from Canada, he joined J. Wray & Nephew Limited in 1973 as financial accountant.
It was in 1977 that he was appointed Managing Director of the Wray & Nephew Group of Companies (Wray & Nephew), which included J. Wray & Nephew Limited and all subsidiaries.
Then, in 1990 he was also appointed managing director of Lascelles de Mercado, the parent company of J.Wray and Nephew, going on to do work that resulted in the award of the Order of Distinction, Commander Class, in 1996 for his achievements in commerce and export.
Currently, he has not, in any way, changed what appears to be an increasing work load.
McConnell is also chairman of Globe Insurance Company of the West Indies, Scotia Investment Jamaica Limited and is a director of the Bank of Scotia Jamaica Limited, Carreras Group Limited, the Spirits Pool Association of Jamaica, University Hospital of the West Indies Private Wing Limited (Tony Thwaites) and the Jamaica Observer Limited.
In addition, for the past 16 continuous years he has served the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica as either vice-president or honorary secretary. Just last month, he was appointed chairman of the Sugar Manufacturing Corporation of Jamaica.
How does he maintain his hectic schedule?
McConnell points out that he has never undergone chemotherapy or radiation treatment of any sort. Rather, he does his annual tests with the doctors and avoids fatty foods.
He also exercises a lot, beginning his morning walks at 5 a.m.
He has had no need to adopt any radical lifestyle changes.
Coping
Outlook asked him about his ability to cope with the stress of his numerous responsibi-lities. His answer is that he tried not to put himself into any position that will result in stress. If stress is inevitable, he asks himself what can he do about it and does it immediately. And, if there is absolutely nothing he can do, he simply accepts it.
He has also avoided stress by staying out of the lime light. "Publicity only brings more pressure," he explains. He has steadily continued his corporate work without much change. His experience with cancer has instead concretised his perspective on the things that really matter in life.
"It confirmed in my mind that the people who believe that they are the big shots are really not so. The big shots are the nurses and doctors who you will never hear about," says Billy McConnell.
And, though he was never the type to boast about his achievements before, he says that he has become a man who will never go about saying "I did this, I did that... I am the greatest."
If there is another secret, it is that McConnell is an optimist by nature. He never thinks about the cancer coming back. "I never say die," he told Outlook.
Still, he is a pragmatist who admits that a study is being done of his family in which several members, including his grandfather and his mother and her siblings, died of cancer. All of his mother's four children have had cancer with one having died.
Married to Patricia Dawn McConnell is father of 31-year old Suzanne Marie and 26-year-old William David who, he said, are quite aware of their family history and therefore have a close relationship with their doctors.
The advice which he has extended to his own children, he also passes on to every Jamaican man and woman.
"Get tested," he says. "If cancer is caught early it can be cured."
To every man, he says, "A colonoscopy is not a nice examination. But, please go to the doctors. They can save you."
