June 8, 2003 – Dr. Alfred O. Heath will receive the 2nd annual Alexander A. Farrelly Public Service Award, presented by Virgin Islanders for Responsive Government, at a gala dinner on Saturday night at the Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort.
The award recognizes exceptional Virgin Islands leaders and public servants. The first recipient, honored last year, was Gov. Charles W. Turnbull.
For this year's award, James A. O'Bryan Jr., president of Virgin Islanders for Responsive Government, said, "the board of directors looked at the many contributions Dr. Heath has made to the community in medicine and health care, military service, business and community, music and his church, and could find no better-qualified candidate to select for this very noteworthy recognition."
Herbert R. Tillery, deputy mayor of Washington, D.C., will be the keynote speaker for the award dinner.
Loretta Lloyd, an organizer of Saturday's event, said the recipients of the award must possess qualities including courage, dedication, responsibility, commitment and conviction. Heath, a physician, surgeon and activist in many areas of the community, "possesses all of those qualities and more," Lloyd said.
Heath served as health commissioner and also as chief executive officer at what was then St. Thomas Hospital (now Roy L. Schneider Hospital) in the administration of Gov. Alexander A. Farrelly. He was the Democratic Party's candidate for lieutenant governor in 1994, running with former Lt. Gov. Derek Hodge unsuccessfully against the Schneider/Mapp team.
Heath served for 30 years in the V.I. National Guard and received the V.I. Distinguished Service Medal and Legion of Merit Award when he retired in 1999. He served for 19 years on the University of the Virgin Islands board of trustees, including terms as vice chair and chair, and was named trustee emeritus in 1997. He has been a director of the UVI Foundation for 10 years and was named its chair last year.
He is a member of St. Thomas Rotary and the Caribbean Chorale. He is a Eucharistic minister and lector at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral, where he sings in the choir. He is also a licensed pilot.
Tickets to the black-tie dinner are $100. They're available at Private Collection, First Choice Boutique and Nisky Pharmacy, or by calling June Adams at 777-3648. Proceeds are to benefit the presenting organization's philanthropic and humanitarian programs.
Virgin Islanders for Responsive Government is a not-for-profit organization formed in 2001 to promote community-based social initiatives, O'Bryan said. He said the group plans to use proceeds from various fund-raises to establish after-school programs for students.
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