Family, friends, dignitaries and close business associates will pay their last respects and say their last goodbye to ANSA McAL’s Chairman Emeritus Dr Anthony Norman Sabga, ORTT today.
His funeral mass will be held at the Church of the Assumption, Long Circular Road, Maraval, from 10 am followed by a private internment.
Tributes have been continuously pouring in since Sabga, 94, passed away peacefully at his home with family at his bedside last Wednesday.
Hours after his passing, Sabga’s son, A Norman Sabga, ANSA McAL’s chairman and chief executive, said he will always be remembered as a devoted family man, colleague, leader, visionary and one of the greatest entrepreneurs in the 20th century.
Chairman Sabga added that his father followed his own words “Find a job that you like and you never have to work one day in your life.”
In a release, he added: “We hope that the lessons of his life, of persistence, hard work, generosity, care for the less fortunate, honour and respect for all persons will live on in each of us.”
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley lauded Sabga as one of the country’s top entrepreneurs, a business visionary and philanthropist, while Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar reflected on his “honesty, integrity and determination to succeed.”
The accolades also came from Grenada Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell, who described Sabga as a patriarch who did a lot of work in the region, invested heavily and provided hundreds of job for the people of the entire Caribbean region.
The T&T Chamber of Commerce meanwhile recognised Sabga for being proactive in combating the economic downturn in the deep recession of the 1980s.
“Dr Sabga’s response to economic and structural adjustment challenges of the 1980s was to expand and invest in local enterprise. Through the acquisition of the McEnearney Alston’s Group, ANSA McAL was birthed and today stands as one of the strongest publicly traded companies on the local stock exchange, with a wide regional presence,” the chamber said.
Born in 1923, Sabga emigrated from Syria to Trinidad in 1930 and began his business career in his father’s business—NS Sabga and Sons—and from those humble beginnings became one of the most innovative and successful businessmen in T&T and the region.
Sabga was the beloved son of the late Norman and Sarah Sabga and leaves to mourn his devoted wife Minerva, children Linda Hadeed, Norman Sabga, JoAnn Moses, David Sabga, Donna Hadeed and Andrew Sabga, 29 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren.
Additional parking for today’s mass will be facilitated at The Trinidad Country Club, Maraval.