Scholarship will help Jamaica College students

Mark Josephs and mom Glenor

The family of late Greater Toronto Area (GTA) businessman Leslie "Ameen" Josephs has established a scholarship in his name for students pursuing Business Studies at Jamaica College.

The academic award was launched last Saturday night at the Jamaica College Old Boys' Association of Canada's (JCOBAC) 22nd annual fundraising banquet in Brampton.

"My husband had a passion for J.C.," said his wife, Glenor. "Since he passed away, our family - it includes children Mark, Randy, Peter and Tim - has been talking about how we could honour his memory and we concluded that this was the best way to do it because this is what he would have wanted.

"Leslie was an innovator, a person whose ideas often were ahead of their time and we hope that the scholarship recipients will have some of the qualities that made him successful."

Josephs, who attended Jamaica College, ran a snow cone business in Jamaica before migrating to Canada with his family on Christmas Eve in 1975. The family started Kisko Products two years later that acquired the Mr. Freeze brand in October 2005, making Kisko - which employs many Caribbean immigrants - Canada's largest freeze pop manufacturer.

Josephs passed away on December 24, 2007.

The family plans to contribute $2,000 annually to a Sixth Form student.