John Kenneth McKenzie Pringle

{{Short description|Entrepreneur, Ambassador, Public Servant}}

John Kenneth McKenzie Pringle CBE OJ (October 4 1925-December 12, 2006) was an entrepreneur, Jamaican ambassador, advertising executive and founder of one of Jamaica's hotels Round Hill. Pringle was the youngest member of the Legislative Council of Jamaica when appointed aged 31.{{cite news |title=Empire Builder Pringle, 31, Joins Jamaica Council |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-empire-builder-pringle/155617064/ |access-date=19 September 2024 |work=The Boston Globe |date=12 January 1958 |pages=76}} {{Open access}} He was the first director of tourism serving between 1963 and 1967, where he tripled Jamaica's tourism revenues in four years.{{cite news |title=John Pringle: father of Jamaican tourism who played host to JFK, Princess Margaret and Clark Gable |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-john-pringle-father/155615201/ |access-date=19 September 2024 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=27 January 2007 |pages=29}} {{Open access}} Pringle also served as chairman of the Jamaica Tourist Board{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Ingrid |date=2006-12-13 |title=Country's first tourism director John Pringle is dead - Jamaica Observer |url=https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2006/12/12/countrys-first-tourism-director-john-pringle-is-dead/ |access-date=2024-07-06 |website=www.jamaicaobserver.com |language=en-US}} and chairman of Jamaica's trade organization JAMCO{{Cite web |date=2012-11-29 |title=Jamaica's first director of tourism |url=https://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121129/news/news8.html |access-date=2024-07-06 |website=jamaica-gleaner.com |language=en}} where he championed Jamaica's interests in the banana industry. He served as the European Chairman of advertising agency DDB from 1967. He later became a film and television producer and in the 1990s went back to his routes as a hotelier, helping Chris Blackwell develop his hotels in Jamaica, including Strawberry Hill in Jamaica and The Tides in South Beach, Florida. In 2004 Jamaica made a set of stamps with Pringle and Round Hill and awarded him with the highest honor the Order of Jamaica (OJ). Pringle was awarded the Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1965. He died December 12, 2006 aged 81.