‘We mourn the loss of Mr. Nassief, a stalwart in the private sector’- Prime Minister Skerrit

Mr. Phillip Nassief, known as one of Dominica’s most outstanding businessmen, died on Sunday.

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit remembered the late businessman in glowing terms.

“We mourn the loss of Mr. Nassief, a stalwart in the private sector,” he said while speaking during Parliament on Monday. “One of the things I liked about him is his commitment to and his promotion of horticulture and landscaping and planting of flowers, beautifying the place and keeping the place clean.”

According to him, at every property that Mr. Nassief owned or invested in, “you would have seen how tidily it was kept.”

The Prime Minister continued, “No doubt you cannot speak about economic development, you cannot speak about coconut production or manufacturing or hotel industry and agriculture without mentioning Phillip Nassief.”

Skerrit revealed that as a young man, he had the distinct privilege of spending some time with Mr. Nassief at his house in Belfast as well as his country house in Picard, Portsmouth.

“Mr. Speaker, if you are trying to figure out why I promote limes so much, I got that idea from Mr. Nassief that lime production is very important, so I encourage people to plant limes and citrus because it is an important crop.”

Skerrit added, “Once you have limes, it must sell.”

Mr. Nassief” ‘s major business undertakings in Dominica include Dominica Coconut Products (DCP) which he started in the 1960s and later sold to Colgate Palmolive in 1995, Belfast Rum, and Fort Young Hotel which he purchased in 1988.

Dominican agriculturist based in the US, Dr. Davison Shillingford, in an article published on Dominica News Online in 2019, described Mr. Nassief as an outstanding Dominican leader who made exceptional contributions to the island’s economic and social development.