The most Intelligent Person I ever knew

[DarterBlue]

This is my final new topic before my self imposed hiatus from this board until summer. So my detractors can now breathe easy. I won't be around to bore and/or annoy you with my posts for awhile. For those that actually read them critically and find a degree of substance in them, I do plan on returning.

What follows below should be taken within the context of my life's path (mostly my US journey), as I worked with a major international service firm for over 14 years and attended graduate school at a nationally/internationally recognized University. During the course of these experiences, I came in direct contact with many brilliant minds. However, none, in my opinion, came close to Stephen. 

By far the most intelligent person I ever knew was Stephen C. Vasciannie (Vas), a classmate of mine in the Economics undergraduate program at the University of the West Indies. Vas and I majored in the same undergraduate Economics program at UWI. And over the three years of the degree program, we took all but one class together. I got to know Vas pretty well in the second year of our studies, as the number of individuals majoring in Economics was only about 20 individuals each year. During our freshman year, all students enrolled in the Faculty of Social Sciences took foundational courses. So, those classes usually had upwards of at least 200 individuals and you tended to make acquaintances pretty quickly and you usually stuck with them over the first year. Vas, a graduate of Kingston College (High School), had plenty of company from KC, so we really did not formally meet till the beginning of our second year. 

Vas entered his University studies with a very big reputation, for he had been KC's valedictorian; had passed 11 GCE, O Levels all with distinction; 4 GCE, A Levels, all with distinction (including Pure & Applied Mathematics in his lower 6th form year); and, had also captained the school's, School's Challenge Team, which had been undefeated over the three years he was on the team. Up to that time, I had always found that if I was not a good as someone else academically, I could always outwork them. So, I was not particularly bothered by Vas being in my group, as I felt the same would apply. 

However, like I did with Mike McCallum in boxing, I quickly discovered that I could not compete with Stephen academically. Not only did the man possess a phenomenal memory, but his ability to grasp and apply what he had learned to a variety of real world problems, was out of this world. In the final two years of the program, I was able to beat him once on a mid-term examination, and then, only because I was able to get maximum points from the bonus question and he did not. I was never able to get a higher grade on a term paper/project than him. 

Vas was not the stereotypical egghead. He attended social gatherings, participated in sports, ran for office in student government, and would generally take an hour to just relax and shoot the breeze. However, he was also incredibly disciplined and knew how to effectively budget his time. He was the first person in the Department of Economics to score straight A's the entire three years of the program, graduating with A First Class Honors Degree. 

Upon graduation, Vas won the Jamaican Rhodes Scholarship and attended Balliol College, Oxford University, where he proceeded to top the class in the LLM program. From Oxford he spend a year at Cambridge University specializing in International Law as it relates to the sea, returning to Oxford to obtain an LLD (PHD in law). Stephen also placed first in the New York Bar Exam, within four months of arriving in NYC, despite the fact he had never taken a formal class in New York State Law. Upon leaving the UK, wife in tow, he spent the next 6.5 years in NYC, first, a year and a half at the UN, and boring of that, four and a half years at Sullivan and Cromwell, one of the largest law firms in the USA. Unfortunately, the S&C gig did not help his marriage, as Vas was working six or seven days a week, twelve or more hours a day. His wife tiring of this, returned to England and this led to deep soul searching on his part. In 1995, he walked away from a partnership opportunity at S&C, returning to Jamaica as a University Professor. 

I found Stephen to not only be extremely intelligent, but while he could be aloof, he did not have an arrogant streak. He was also extremely ethical, and I always felt he would have made a fine leader of Jamaica. So much so, that over lunch, shortly after graduation from UWI, I encouraged him to give serious thought to running for Prime Minister of Jamaica down the line. His response, was typical Stephen, "WTP", he said, "if I feel down the road that I have the solution to the major problems facing Jamaica, I will." He never did run, though he briefly entered politics, so I suppose he answered my suggestion with a no. 

After stints as Acting Solicitor General, Head of the Norman Manley Law School, UWI, and Jamaica's Ambassador to the USA, Stephen currently serves as the Head of the University of Technology, in Jamaica. We have remained in touch over the years ad when I visit the island make it my point of duty to try and catch up in person.  Vas is a mind. But more importantly, he is a good person. My friendship with him over the years is something I greatly value as he is an extremely good sounding board on a multitude of situations.  

This concludes my new topics this go around. I will update my market analysis after the close this Friday, and then I am out of here!!

[noonereal]

11 hours ago, DarterBlue said:

The most Intelligent Person I ever knew

I'm still here! 😋

[DarterBlue]

44 minutes ago, noonereal said:

I'm still here! 😋

I know your board persona, but I can't say I really know the man. No doubt some of the posters reveal their true personalities and demonstrate their intelligence or lack of it. Others don't! 

[15yds4gibberish]

@DarterBlue,

I've really enjoyed your series of posts.  Thank you for sharing your experiences.  They illuminate experiences of my own, and they underscore questions I have too.

I find myself still thinking about your unfathomable evil post, as well as something @World Citizen wrote in response.  Makes me want to go back and re-read Victor Frankl.  I don't understand what happens to cause men's hearts to harden like that.  And in the less extreme, in a world of problems, what is the right response to those problems without adding to them?

I also find myself wanting to meet Vas, or, even more wishing my son could meet him.  They have something in common, and Vas sounds amazing.

Best to you in your time away in the coming months.  Shoot me a PM should you find yourself in the Bay Area during that time. 

Take Care,

@15yds4gibberish