25 Facts About Butch Stewart

Gordon Arthur Cyril "Butch" Stewart OJ CD was a Jamaican hotelier and businessman.

Butch Stewart was the founder, owner, and chairman of Sandals Resorts, Beaches Resorts, and their parent company Sandals Resorts International, as well as The ATL Group and its subsidiaries Appliance Traders and The Jamaica Observer.

Gordon Arthur Cyril Stewart was born on 6 July 1941 in Kingston, Jamaica.

Butch Stewart grew up along the country's north coast where he came to be known as "Butch", a nickname given to him by an American sailor.

Butch Stewart then bought a larger boat which he operated until age 17.

Butch Stewart later left in 1968 to found his own business, Appliance Traders, Ltd.

The Bay Roc had been abandoned for more than five years when Butch Stewart hired architect Evan Williams to renovate the hotel for $4 million and reopen it the same year as the Sandals Resort Beach Club, later known as Sandals Montego Bay.

Butch Stewart is credited with several innovations in the hospitality industry, most notably building the Caribbean's first swim-up bar at Sandals Montego Bay Resort in Jamaica in 1984.

Butch Stewart added two more resorts to the Sandals chain in Saint Lucia, Sandals La Toc and Sandals Halcyon Beach, which opened in 1993.

Sandals Royal Bahamian in Nassau opened in 1996 and, in 1997, Butch Stewart started a second resort chain geared towards children and families with the opening of a Beaches Resort in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands.

Butch Stewart founded The Jamaica Observer newspaper in January 1993 and, in 1994, started the Air Jamaica Acquisition Group to buy a majority stake in Air Jamaica.

The group paid $37.5 million for a majority share of the airline; of which, Butch Stewart held a 46 percent stake and became the new chairman of Air Jamaica.

Butch Stewart's group sold their shares of the airline back to the Jamaican Government in 2004.

In November 2006, Butch Stewart became chairman of Sandals and Beaches Resorts after appointing his son Adam Butch Stewart as CEO.

In 2012, Butch Stewart founded Sandals Corporate University, an adult education program for Caribbean nationals employed by Sandals Resorts, Beaches Resorts and Grand Pineapple Beach Resorts, provided in partnership by Canada-based Ryerson University, Western Hospitality Institute of Jamaica, and the Jamaica Foundation for Life Long Learning.

Butch Stewart had eight children; one of his sons, Jonathan, was killed in a car crash in 1990.

Adam Butch Stewart was deputy chairman of Sandals, CEO of The ATL Group and founded the Sandals Foundation while serving as CEO of Sandals Resorts from 2006 to 2012.

Butch Stewart lived in Kingston and Montego Bay, Jamaica, with his girlfriend Cheryl, the mother of his younger three children: a set of twins, Kelly and Gordon, and a daughter, Sabrina.

Butch Stewart died in Miami, United States, on 4 January 2021 at the age of 79.

Butch Stewart received several accolades and awards including Jamaica's highest national distinctions: Order of Jamaica, and Commander of the Order of Distinction.

Butch Stewart received honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from the University of the West Indies and from the University of Technology, Jamaica.

Butch Stewart was a Paul Harris Fellow, Rotary International's highest award.

In 2014 Butch Stewart was honored with the Most Innovative All-Inclusive Resort Executive by the Travalliance Travvy Awards, Hotelier of the Year at the Cacique Award held by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation and the Invest Caribbean Now Leadership Award presented at its global summit.

Butch Stewart was a recipient of Caribbean World Magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in Jamaica, and was referred to as one of Jamaica's most-admired businessmen by Kamal King, President of Cambridge College and Community Services Jamaica, in an address to graduating students.

Butch Stewart earned Lifetime Achievement Awards from The American Academy of Hospitality Sciences, Travel Weekly and Globe Travel Awards.