For more than 50 years exemplary seaman, successful businessman and devoted family man, Hartmann Morgan DaCosta has solidly promoted the welfare of the Cayman Islands, notably its children and his home community of Savannah.
Starting his working life as a 17-year-old seaman, Mr. DaCosta, now 74, rapidly grasped the value of honest labour and the hard-earned dollar. He rose to third engineer by dint of study and diligent effort.
Returning home, he translated his experience into a thriving business career, working first with his brothers to operate Puritan Cleaners and then launching his own Meadac Supply Co. Ltd. The company now employs 40 persons, including several family members.
An active social conscience motivated Mr. DaCosta to become a Rotarian: For 16 years he posted a perfect attendance record, earning that club’s highest award for service above self during the process.
With a fellow Rotarian, he established Junior Achievement in the Cayman Islands, a programme that has empowered numerous teens, instilling in them business acumen, ethics and experience. “Honesty is always the best policy,” he reiterates.
Other significant Rotary-linked achievements include his fund-raising for international and local community projects, especially bus shelters, wheelchair-accessible ramps and the T.E. McField building, used for after-school programmes.
A Justice of the Peace since 1994, Mr. DaCosta has also positively influenced local children’s lives as a sitting lay-Magistrate in Juvenile Court. And as one of the first recruits in Cayman’s Special Constabulary Force, he provided countless hours of community service for which he was awarded a long-service medal.
And as a council member and currently Seafarers Association President, Mr. DaCosta also aims to establish a museum and a memorial wall inside Seafarers Hall to further cement the Islands’ sea-going heritage. Additional goals are to re-establish Cayman as a boat-building centre and to revitalise its maritime reputation.
His advice for young people? “Respect your family and elders. In turn, you respect yourself. And give your best in whatever job you do,” he says.
