By Doreen Hemlock From Caribbean Business

John Collins, a journalist and consultant whose love and knowledge of the Caribbean made him a sought-after reference for the region for decades, died Aug. 11 in Puerto Rico. He was 80.

Collins died of complications after hip replacement surgery at the Veterans Affairs hospital in San Juan. He spent his final years in nursing homes.

Born in St. Louis, Collins adopted the Caribbean as his home and lived in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), the Dominican Republic (D.R.), St. Maarten and mostly in Puerto Rico. He visited almost every island and nation in the Caribbean and contributed to publications across the region.

His work as a journalist won him four Overseas Press Club awards.

As an adviser on Caribbean affairs, he served three gubernatorial administrations in Puerto Rico from 1985 to 1993.

“Puerto Rico will never realize how much we owe to John Collins,” said Antonio Colorado, a former Resident Commissioner and former P.R. secretary of State. “Our relations with the Caribbean and everything we were able to accomplish in the 1980s and early 1990s was due in a very important part to what John did.”

Collins advised the D.R. Presidents Joaquín Balaguer and Leonel Fernández. He also contributed for years as a fellow to the Global Foundation for Democracy & Development, founded by Fernández.

Earlier, he had been a consultant in the USVI to then- Senate President Ruby M. Rouss and Gov. Juan Luis. He was elected as a delegate-at-large to the Fourth Constitutional Convention in the U.S. territory in 1979.

Collins began his career as a journalist in the Caribbean as a correspondent for United Press International from 1978 to 1983. He then worked with CARIBBEAN BUSINESS in Puerto Rico, first on staff for five years and later as a contributor. CARIBBEAN BUSINESS Editor-in-Chief Manuel Casiano was sorry to hear of Collins’ passing away and said that John was a valuable member of his staff who helped him to understand the happenings around us and throughout the Caribbean.

Colleagues remember the blue-eyed, high-energy Collins for his insatiable appetite to understand the Caribbean.

He was open-hearted in sharing his knowledge and contacts, and often gave friends books.

“John knew everybody and was always available to help you—a kind and generous man,” said writer Mark Kurlansky, author of “A Continent of Islands: Searching for the Caribbean Destiny.”

“Very saddened on the loss of a great Caribbean friend, colleague and soldier of regionalism and integration and all things Caribbean,” said international business consultant David Lewis.

Collins was outspoken with colleagues on his views, and over the years, came to lament what he called the “marginalization of the Caribbean in the era of globalization.”

“John had a discriminating mind and called the shots as he saw them,” said Caribbean scholar Anthony Maingot, professor emeritus at Florida International University.

He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1952 to 1956, deployed in Illinois, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Washington, D.C., Germany, Morocco and Libya.

He considered among his early career accomplishments work at the United Nations (U.N.) as an official supporting the U.N. Relief and Works Agency helping Palestinian refugees in the 1967-1970 period and as a conference assistant during the U.N. General Assembly in 1958.

Collins is survived by his long-time neighbors who looked after him and handled his affairs in his later years, Milca Marietti and Pedro Rivera Nieves.

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