The Calabash Literary Festival is extending condolences to the family and friends of respected Jamaican poet and businessman, Ralph Thompson, who died on Sunday (January 23).

He was 93-years-old.

While Thompson’s cause of death was not immediately disclosed, the festival wrote on Twitter that the Jamaican was a tremendous fan of Calabash.

“We are deeply saddened by the transition of the wonderful Jamaican poet Ralph Thompson. Ralph was an accomplished businessman, artist & patriot but, to us, he was foremost a poet & friend. He trusted us to read at the very 1st Calabash and attended every year he could #RestinPoetry,” Calabash tweeted.

Thompson was born in the small New York town Poughkeepsie, NY, to a Jamaican mother and US father.

In 1931, after the marriage failed three years after Thompson was born, he and his sister were raised in Jamaica.

Thompson, who holds a Doctor of Law degree, started his business career in property development with Abe Issa, the ‘father of Jamaican tourism’.

The former soldier worked extensively with Jamaica Labour Party- (JLP) and People’s National Party (PNP)-led governments, and in 1988 was appointed a Commander of Distinction by the Edward Seaga administration.

His last post was a seven-year stint as CEO of Seprod Limited, where Thompson led an instrumental role in saving the manufacturing giant from bankruptcy.

Thompson, a close friend to Nobel laureate Sir Derek Walcott, is also a noted educational activist, speaking on radio and TV, and frequently writing for both major newspaper editorials.

The amateur painter has publicly exhibited several times in Kingston, with a selection of his paintings being published by Peepal Tree Press in 2008.

Thompson has published more than 20 poems in British, US and Caribbean journals including The Caribbean Writer and the Mississippi Review.

The Jamaican was bestowed the Silver Musgrave Medal in October 2015 for his contribution to literature.

Now retired, a memoir on his life titled ‘Take My Word for it’ was launched by Thompson in 2016.