TELEVISION crews and the media will cover the ceremony in Onchan tomorrow to mark the prestigious award which will be bestowed on Albert Gubay by the Roman Catholic church.
The award of Knight Commander with Star of the Order of St Gregory the Great will be bestowed on Mr Gubay by the Archbishop of Westminster, The Most Rev Vincent Nichols. It is considered to be the Catholic church’s equivalent of a royal knighthood and is bestowed with the authority of Pope Benedict XVI, but it is an award which is handed out only very rarely.
The ceremony will take place at St Anthony’s church in Onchan - the church which Mr Gubay, 82, built for the Catholic church in 1988.
Dating back to 1831, the Knight Commander honour is an order which is given for conspicuous service to the Church and society. The award is bestowed in Mr Gubay’s case for his philanthropic work which he has carried out over many years and in recognition of the establishment of The Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation.
Always outspoken and controversial, Albert Gubay came to live in the Isle of Man in the early 80s and has left a number of notable landmarks including the Mount Murray Hotel complex, the Mount Murray golf course, the Clinch’s building, the Celtic House office block and the shopping complex in Parliament Street, Ramsey.
His chief business successes, however, have been outside the Isle of Man, most notably with the Kwik Save supermarket chain, followed with the construction of a series of out-of-town shopping complexes across the north of England and in Southern Ireland. He also created a chain of 'Total Fitness' health and fitness centres and has had the unique ability for someone of his wealth to be “hands-on”, being notoriously frugal in his business dealings and confronting many a politician and sub contractor along the way.
He started from humble beginnings in North Wales selling non-sugar sweets during post World War II confectionery rationing, but has since he has built a fortune which is now approaching £1billion.
A lifelong supporter of the Roman Catholic church, as a young man Albert Gubay famously made a promise to God that he would use half of any wealth he created during his life to benefit the church.
He has not only been faithful to that promise, but has gone well beyond it by leaving most of the rest of that wealth for general charitable causes. Whilst driven to use his life to create the largest possible fund for charity, he has in any case throughout his life been responsible for substantial acts of charity, chiefly to church-related projects.
His charitable bequests in recent years have also included substantial donations to various charities and organisations including breast cancer research, the Manx Sports Aid Foundation, the Department of Education to fund students attending top universities and the Commonwealth Youth Games.
In recent years Mr Gubay has refined and extended his charitable ambitions with the establishment of The Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation which has been structured to ensure that the benefits for the church and other charities are maximised and keep on growing.
On his death, Mr Gubay has arranged for his business empire to be left intact to the charity. In this way, the companies which make up that empire will continue to grow in perpetuity. Based on current values it is estimated that they can conservatively generate £20 million per annum for the church and other good causes. 50% will go to the Catholic church and the other 50% to charitable causes.
His ambition is for the Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation to be worth at least £1 billion on his death.
• According to Wikipedia there are no privileges given to a Knight Commander with Star of the Order of St Gregory the Great. However, there is apparently one exception - the right to ride on a horse inside Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City !
Photo: Bill Dale www.isleofmanphotos.com
