Well-known St Ann hotelier, Richard Salm, dies in automobile crash

Common St Ann hotelier and businessman, Richard Salm, died as a final result of injuries he sustained in a motor motor vehicle crash on the Llandovery Principal Highway in the parish on Wednesday. 

It is recognized that the two-car crash happened sometime after 3pm on Wednesday and Salm was rushed to the St Ann’s Bay Clinic, in which he succumbed to his injuries although going through procedure. 

Salm’s tragic loss of life has rocked the island’s tourism industry.

At the time of his death, Salm was the handling director of Royal Decameron Club Caribbean Lodge in Runaway Bay, St Ann, and handling director of Drax Corridor Estate, according to his LinkedIn profile.

A Jamaica Info Service article (JIS) in Oct 2019 reported that Salm was among Jamaicans who have been recognised for their contribution to national development at the Countrywide Honours and Awards ceremony at King’s Household that 12 months.

He was awarded the Purchase of Difference in the Rank of Commander (CD) for assistance to Tourism, Wintertime Sporting activities Advertising, and Community Development. 

“Mr Salm, a naturalised Jamaican, to start with came to Jamaica in June 1963, at a time when it was only a winter season spot, on his way to work on the Ski Portillo in the Chilean Andes,” the post stated at the time.

“In 1968, 5 a long time immediately after his initial take a look at, possessing concluded looking through Regulation at Cambridge College, called to the Bar at the Internal Temple and put in a couple of decades functioning in a Merchant financial institution in London, Mr Salm, then aged 26, gave it all up and emigrated to Jamaica.

“Alongside with a team of college buddies from England, they bought a piece of swampland in Salem, Runaway Bay, and conceived the notion of constructing the resort Club Caribbean,” the report stated.

By 1971, the to start with phase of Club Caribbean was created, with 60 rooms.

“These days the vacation resort has 220 rooms,” according to the JIS short article. “Development of the vacation resort developed work for the citizens who respected Mr Salm for furnishing considerably-desired employment, but also for functioning alongside them while the house was becoming bushed and cleared for advancement.”

Salm also obtained Drax Hall Estate in 1988 and donated 30 acres of the assets to the then-St Ann Parish Council (now municipal company) for a group sports activities intricate.

Being a eager sportsman himself, the hotelier was also instrumental in commencing the Jamaica Ski Federation, JIS noted.

Salm, who was a business believer in an educated society, begun Glen Preparatory with his Jamaican spouse in 1994 “in the backyard of their house in Salem [St Ann], sponsoring the kids of hotel workers”, the article said.

The university, which began with just eight little ones, experienced to finally transfer to Discovery Bay, also in St Ann, when the range grew to 60 small children. 

The hotelier’s contribution to countrywide lifetime also noticed him leading the growth of Ironshore, in Montego Bay, which offers an outstanding 18-hole golfing training course, in accordance to JIS.