THE country owes a great debt of gratitude to deceased businessman Wilfred Sidney Knox, former finance minister Wendell Mottley told Newsday at Knox's funeral on Wednesday.

Mottley was among other former politicians such as Ken Gordon, Winston Dookeran and Rocky Garcia at the funeral at the Church of the Assumption, Long Circular Road, Maraval.

Speaking with Newsday immediately after the funeral, Mottley said Knox should be appreciated for his persistence in the development of the Point Lisas estate.

“This country owes him a huge debt,” Mottley said.

Knox, 98, died on February 7. After his death the business community recollected his years as a visionary. He was instrumental in the local and regional expansion of what was then Neal and Massy, now the Massy Group.

Knox's granddaughter Cristina Legarza

eulogised the World War II veteran, telling those gathered that Knox was an “amazing man” and his ability to help others was his greatest asset. She too hailed him as a visionary.

At the end of the funeral, Knox was honoured by the Defence Force’s Lance Cpl Omari Babb and Private Tyrese Solomon with the Last Post, a musical tribute played on bugles or trumpets to honour deceased members of the military.

[caption id="attachment_1001404" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Military officers Lt Cmdr KellsAnn Bourne while accompanied on trumpet by Lance Corporal Omari Babb and Private Tyrese Gordon,pay their final tribute at the funeral of the late Sidney Knox, former Neal & Massy Executive and Royal Air Force veteran who served in World War II,Church of the Assumption, Long Circular Road Maraval, on Wednesday. - ROGER JACOB[/caption]

Knox joined the Royal Air Force at 17 and became part of the Sixth Airborne Division. Last year he was honoured on Remembrance Day as one of the last surviving TT veterans who fought against Nazi Germany.

When he returned from the war, instead of becoming a commercial pilot, he got into business, working his way up to managing director of Neal and Massy.

He used his piloting skills to fly business clients across the region during his vision to expand the company.

In 1991 he was awarded the Chaconia Medal Gold for business and he was inducted into the TT Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame in 2006.

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