The family would like to announce that Mr Nigel Roydon of Meads Bay, Anguilla, passed away on the morning of Wednesday 22nd February at his residence. He turned 67 years old just a month ago, in January. He is survived by his wife, Delores Roydon, five children Emma, Jonathan, Rhys, Luis and Dakota, three grandchildren Logan, Lilja and Arianna, and his brother, Terry.
Nigel was the son of Leon and Lyane Roydon and was born in Bristol, England, in 1950. He attended secondary school at Clifton College in Bristol and went on to study Law at University College London. After deciding that a career in Law was not for him, he joined his father’s group of businesses and became Managing Director of Gardiner-Alumin, based in Somerset, where he met his first wife, Diana.
Following his mother’s sudden passing in 1982 he came to Anguilla to help his father complete building Malliouhana Hotel, where he then stayed on as General Manager up until the hotel was sold – and he took his retirement in 2013. He sat on the Tourist Board of Anguilla for many years and cared greatly about Anguilla’s continual success in the tourism market. He also served as French Consul for Anguilla for several years.
In his personal life, he was an avid reader and loved the English Language. As a boy he would take a dictionary to bed with him so that he could learn all the hard and complicated words. He loved to read Science Fiction and Fantasy genre books and must have read thousands in his lifetime. He also loved to listen to music. Among his favourite vocal artists were Charles Aznavour and Neil Diamond, and he could often be heard singing (badly) to their music with the sound turned up in his car.
He always had a great passion for many kinds of sport and games, with (British) Football, Golf, Backgammon and Bridge being the favourites, and achieved a lifelong dream of joining the Board of Directors of his favourite football team, Bristol Rovers, in his mid-20s. His generosity of spirit, competitive nature and love of sport led him to organise numerous pro/celebrity fundraising events in the UK for injured/retiring footballers and local children’s charities (particularly CLIC). Before the golf course was completed on Anguilla, he regularly travelled to neighbouring islands to play. He also played (and won) in many Caribbean-wide Bridge Tournaments with his partner Alan Gumbs.
He was a very kind and generous man and will be missed by family and friends.
