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A Guyanese-born philanthropist and entrepreneur in Queens will be among the first recipients of an honorary doctorate from the University of Guyana.

Jay Sobhraj said in a statement on Friday that he will be recognized, on Nov. 10, in a ceremony, at the University of Guyana, for his “long dedication to philanthropy and record of success in business.”

“The honor recognizes his work in founding the Jay and Sylvia Sobhraj Foundation, which, this year, helped create the nation of Guyana’s first degree program in psychology, as well as a new building and resources to house mental health services at the university,” the statement said.

“It further recognizes the foundation’s work in creating scholarships for students to attend the university, its purchase of equipment for the Guyana police force, as well as for the specialized high school preparatory classes it runs for hundreds of public school students in Queens,” it added.

 

In bestowing the honor on Sobhraj, the University of Guyana, which this year is awarding honorary doctorates for the first time, cites his “combination of business acumen, personal distinction in the field of real estate development, connection to The University of Guyana, through generous philanthropy, as well as exceptional service to the Guyanese community in Guyana and in the United States of America.”

The other three recipients are musician and singer Eddy Grant, renowned for the hit song, “Electric Avenue;” indigenous rights activist Laura George; and Yesu Persaud, another leading Guyanese business figure and philanthropist and past president of the Guyana Manufacturers Association.

“It is a tremendous honor to receive this recognition from the University of Guyana, whose educational mission has been central to so many of the charitable endeavors Sylvia and I have been fortunate enough to support,” Sobhraj said.

“My family has enjoyed success in the United States, and we feel a deep obligation to repay that success by helping others, primarily young people, from Queens, New York to Georgetown, Guyana, further their education and help realize their dreams,” he added.

Born in Guyana in 1948, Sobhraj said he was one of 10 children and the son of a rice farmer. He earned a degree in engineering from Middlesex Polytechnic in London, England, and became a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in 1984.

After working in the oil industry in the United Arab Emirates, Sobhraj said he and two of his brothers, George and Ken, co-founded Zara Realty in 1982 in Jamaica, Queens.

 

Sobhraj said the firm, one of New York City’s top providers of affordable housing, also owns or manages more than 3.1 million square feet of commercial real estate in the New York region.

In 2007, after years of independent charitable giving, Sobhraj said he officially founded the Jay and Sylvia Sobhraj Foundation with his wife.

He said the foundation has donated more than US$2 million to various causes over the years in the United States and Guyana.

Sobhraj said this includes the new psychology program at the University of Guyana, five student scholarships a year and “crucial equipment for the Guyana Police Force.”

In Queens, Sobhraj said the foundation, in partnership with the America Sevashram Sangha temple, runs free preparatory classes for students to take the Specialized High School Admittance Test (SHSAT), which allows entry into the city’s top academic high schools.

“Ordinarily, families pay thousands of dollars for the classes, which help candidates qualify for four of the top public high schools in the city,” Sobhraj said.

He said the foundation also donated a computer lab to Richmond Hill High School in Queens.

https://www.caribbeanlifenews....ry-doctorate-cl.html

Replies sorted oldest to newest

yuji22 posted:

Congrats to Jay. Well deserved. 

GNI should give an award to Gil and D2 for their outstanding contribution to this forum. Boss man holding back.

I decline. No thanks.

FM
Prashad posted:

I saw Zara buildings in New York.  I certainly have seen better.

Mars posted:
Prashad posted:

I saw Zara buildings in New York.  I certainly have seen better.

These guys are among the worst slumlords in NYC.

https://ny.curbed.com/2017/6/1...ords-stabilizing-nyc

New York’s 10 worst landlords targeted by housing advocates

We lived in one of their buildings when we moved here in 83 and I fully agree.

GTAngler

There was another brother by the name of Steve Sobhraj that was a Realtor in Toronto and left to join the others in USA. He died soon after of a heart attack. Steve did not made it in Real Estate he also sold his house to open a Dollar store and that also failed, it's sad that the ones in the US did well but Steve in Canada was a failure.

K
kp posted:

There was another brother by the name of Steve Sobhraj that was a Realtor in Toronto and left to join the others in USA. He died soon after of a heart attack. Steve did not made it in Real Estate he also sold his house to open a Dollar store and that also failed, it's sad that the ones in the US did well but Steve in Canada was a failure.

I read about their success since they were featured in the local newspaper and a magazine I saw some time back. I have seem some of the ZARA Luxury Buildings in the Queens area...they look clean and impressive from the outside.

However, lets go easy on dem people...they donated to the University and other charitable causes in Guyana. 

How many of you knuckleheads on GNI (besides Tola) has done this?

V
Nehru posted:

I have been in many of Zara'a buildings and they are great. Sheik Bhai can attest to this

Do you mean like converting one bedroom into two and raise the rent? I know people who work in Zara's apartments to do renovations in LI, NY. These Indo-Guyanese managers and supervisors are slave drivers. They hired illegals and pay them peanuts. They are two sides to every coin.

FM
Last edited by Former Member
Prince posted:
Nehru posted:

I have been in many of Zara'a buildings and they are great. Sheik Bhai can attest to this

Do you mean like converting one bedroom into two and raise the rent? I know people who work in Zara's apartments to do renovations in LI, NY. These Indo-Guyanese managers and supervisors are slave drivers. They hired illegals and pay them peanuts. 

Or like fixing the elevator and the boiler and then raising the rent for "capital improvements". The funny thing is, my dad and George were good friends.

GTAngler
Last edited by GTAngler
Nehru posted:

I have been in many of Zara'a buildings and they are great. Sheik Bhai can attest to this

Nehru Bhai,

Some of the Indos here are like crab dawgs, they cannot acknowledge success. They are the remnants of whatever dead meat is left over from the AFC.

Some Guyanese want to pay cheap rent and live in a Taj Mahal.

Kudos to Zaras for being successful. 

FM
Last edited by Former Member
yuji22 posted:
Nehru posted:

I have been in many of Zara'a buildings and they are great. Sheik Bhai can attest to this

Nehru Bhai,

Some of the Indos here are like crab dawgs, they cannot acknowledge success. They are the remnants of whatever dead meat is left over from the AFC.

Some Guyanese want to pay cheap rent and live in a Taj Mahal.

Kudos to Zaras for being successful. 

Why don't you shut you poke if you don't know anything about Zara Landlord/Tenants facts? Let people like me speak who have first-hand details of NY housing business. Nehru only knows about patakake. 

FM
Prince posted:
Nehru posted:

I have been in many of Zara'a buildings and they are great. Sheik Bhai can attest to this

Do you mean like converting one bedroom into two and raise the rent? I know people who work in Zara's apartments to do renovations in LI, NY. These Indo-Guyanese managers and supervisors are slave drivers. They hired illegals and pay them peanuts. They are two sides to every coin.

So,

You think all dem people like Rockefeller, Carnegie, Donald Trump, etc....were always decent, fair-minded and kind people as they moved from rags to riches, eh?

Dem people work hard for dem wealth...de story said family members stowed away to the Middle East then they come back to NY and became rich...

Give dep people a break, they helping them downtrodden in Guyana...perhaps this is their way of repenting, no?

At least dey doing some good, compared to alyuh knuckleheads who get rich in America and turn your backside to Guyana 

 

V
VishMahabir posted:
Prince posted:
Nehru posted:

I have been in many of Zara'a buildings and they are great. Sheik Bhai can attest to this

Do you mean like converting one bedroom into two and raise the rent? I know people who work in Zara's apartments to do renovations in LI, NY. These Indo-Guyanese managers and supervisors are slave drivers. They hired illegals and pay them peanuts. They are two sides to every coin.

So,

You think all dem people like Rockefeller, Carnegie, Donald Trump, etc....were always decent, fair-minded and kind people as they moved from rags to riches, eh?

Dem people work hard for dem wealth...de story said family members stowed away to the Middle East then they come back to NY and became rich...

Give dep people a break, they helping them downtrodden in Guyana...perhaps this is their way of repenting, no?

At least dey doing some good, compared to alyuh knuckleheads who get rich in America and turn your backside to Guyana 

 

Vish, add carb dawg mentality to your list of Guyanese words to describe people like Prince.

You hit the nail on the head. Some Guyanese People (mainly our own Indos) are envious of other successful and rich Guyanese.

 

FM
Last edited by Former Member
alena06 posted:

Kudos to the gentleman for helping others in the homeland. 🇬🇾

George opened an eye clinic somewhere up the East Coast and his foundation is planning another one on Leguan. Google Subraj Foundation.

GTAngler
GTAngler posted:
alena06 posted:

Kudos to the gentleman for helping others in the homeland. 🇬🇾

George opened an eye clinic somewhere up the East Coast and his foundation is planning another one on Leguan. Google Subraj Foundation.

The article said he donated a larger sum of money  to study and improve "mental health" in Guyana. This country can benefit from this...not to mention some people on GNI  

V
VishMahabir posted:
kp posted:

There was another brother by the name of Steve Sobhraj that was a Realtor in Toronto and left to join the others in USA. He died soon after of a heart attack. Steve did not made it in Real Estate he also sold his house to open a Dollar store and that also failed, it's sad that the ones in the US did well but Steve in Canada was a failure.

I read about their success since they were featured in the local newspaper and a magazine I saw some time back. I have seem some of the ZARA Luxury Buildings in the Queens area...they look clean and impressive from the outside.

However, lets go easy on dem people...they donated to the University and other charitable causes in Guyana. 

How many of you knuckleheads on GNI (besides Tola) has done this?

For over 25 years we started an organisation to help the kids back in my village, 18th November, we are having a Luncheon to raise funds. But that is not to brag about. Yes I commend the Sobhraj Family for their selfless contribution to the needy in Guyana. The only way you can enjoy your success is to share and help others. The brother Steve, I knew him personally , he often spoke about his rich family in NY, they are the ones that encouraged him to leave Canada.

K
Prashad posted:

Canada in many ways is still a British type Paki  hidden Discrimination against brown south Asians country like Britain and the West Indies.

The Canada I live in that happened 35 to 40 years ago, but not today. The white Canadians don't feel threatened by coloured people, they welcome the culture and enjoy the ethnic food. Toronto is the most diverse City to live, there is always a celebration.

K
GTAngler posted:
alena06 posted:

Kudos to the gentleman for helping others in the homeland. 🇬🇾

George opened an eye clinic somewhere up the East Coast and his foundation is planning another one on Leguan. Google Subraj Foundation.

The late brother, George, has been involved for decades.  He was one of the early backers of Guyana Watch and also supported the first by-pass surgery in Guyana.  

People will say this and that, but they never forgot Guyana.  

Baseman
VishMahabir posted:
Prince posted:
Nehru posted:

I have been in many of Zara'a buildings and they are great. Sheik Bhai can attest to this

Do you mean like converting one bedroom into two and raise the rent? I know people who work in Zara's apartments to do renovations in LI, NY. These Indo-Guyanese managers and supervisors are slave drivers. They hired illegals and pay them peanuts. They are two sides to every coin.

So,

You think all dem people like Rockefeller, Carnegie, Donald Trump, etc....were always decent, fair-minded and kind people as they moved from rags to riches, eh?

Dem people work hard for dem wealth...de story said family members stowed away to the Middle East then they come back to NY and became rich...

Give dep people a break, they helping them downtrodden in Guyana...perhaps this is their way of repenting, no?

At least dey doing some good, compared to alyuh knuckleheads who get rich in America and turn your backside to Guyana 

I agree.  When George and his wife and kids were mopping the lobby of their first small apartment the bought from a Jewish guy no one noticed or cared.  Now they are rich people talk sh1t.

Baseman
Prashad posted:

Canada is not racist it is Anti-Brown South Asian Racist.

When I was sixteen I used to go to a skating rink in the junction ( Dundas West) and literally had to jump the subway tracks to get away from a bunch of thugs because they did not like I had a white girlfriend.  I can list you a dozen times when I was spat at on trains, cursed at etc on the trains or the street. In the seventies we always had to be in a group at night at the clubs or one will definitely get jumped. There was a Chinese disco called the floating world downtown Toronto and even there the white guys get mad if we went with  white girls. Fortunately for us white girls did not mind and they were in abundance. Guyanese  indian girls  were scarce and the trinis stuck to their own

FM
Last edited by Former Member
Baseman posted:
VishMahabir posted:
Prince posted:
Nehru posted:

I have been in many of Zara'a buildings and they are great. Sheik Bhai can attest to this

Do you mean like converting one bedroom into two and raise the rent? I know people who work in Zara's apartments to do renovations in LI, NY. These Indo-Guyanese managers and supervisors are slave drivers. They hired illegals and pay them peanuts. They are two sides to every coin.

So,

You think all dem people like Rockefeller, Carnegie, Donald Trump, etc....were always decent, fair-minded and kind people as they moved from rags to riches, eh?

Dem people work hard for dem wealth...de story said family members stowed away to the Middle East then they come back to NY and became rich...

Give dep people a break, they helping them downtrodden in Guyana...perhaps this is their way of repenting, no?

At least dey doing some good, compared to alyuh knuckleheads who get rich in America and turn your backside to Guyana 

I agree.  When George and his wife and kids were mopping the lobby of their first small apartment the bought from a Jewish guy no one noticed or cared.  Now they are rich people talk sh1t.

Base, no one is belittling what they have achieved or what they have given back to Guyana. I lived in one of their buildings and I have relatives who live in other buildings. George and my father were friends. Also Jay and an older brother Karan I think his name was. Another younger brother did the telephone wiring in our house in 96. Jay was the main financier. Zara was named after his daughter. Maybe as someone said, this is their way of repenting.

GTAngler
kp posted:
Prashad posted:

Canada in many ways is still a British type Paki  hidden Discrimination against brown south Asians country like Britain and the West Indies.

The Canada I live in that happened 35 to 40 years ago, but not today. The white Canadians don't feel threatened by coloured people, they welcome the culture and enjoy the ethnic food. Toronto is the most diverse City to live, there is always a celebration.

In 1977 I had to go to Canada(Winnipeg) to obtain my green card. I took a taxi from my friend's house to the American consulate. There were people(cars from the traffic) looking at me and my wife as if they have never seen a coolie man with a white woman. It felt very uncomfortable.  

FM

You folks should educate the younger generation today about your experiences; especially, those who think Canada was never racist. What I find is this. Americans tend to talk their minds openly.  Canadians hid what is in their minds and act in stealth ways when it comes to race particularly a paki man (male brown South Asian) with a white woman.

For the record, Prashad does not mind having white women friends but he will never date one romantically.

Prashad
Last edited by Prashad

A Guyanese-born philanthropist and entrepreneur in Queens will be among the first recipients of an honorary doctorate from the University of Guyana.

 

Eh Ehhhh everybody trying fo get their doctor rate . Iman got mine couple weeks back, she said it's six hundred for doing a root canal pon I.

cain
Prashad posted:

You folks should educate the younger generation today about your experiences; especially, those who think Canada was never racist. What I find is this. Americans tend to talk their minds openly.  Canadians hid what is in their minds and act in stealth ways when it comes to race particularly a paki man (male brown South Asian) with a white woman.

For the record, Prashad does not mind having white women friends but he will never date one romantically.

Good lef em for me.

cain

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