ASHENHEIM

ASHENHEIM, Jamaican family. LOUIS ASHENHEIM (1816–1858), born in Edinburgh, was one of the first Jewish graduates from a Scottish university. He immigrated to Jamaica about 1841. By profession a doctor, he was noted for his work in stemming a cholera epidemic. In Jamaica he helped edit a Jewish monthly entitled Bikkure Hayam, The First Fruits of the West. He was also the editor and proprietor of the newspaper Daily Gleaner. SIR NEVILLE NOEL ASHENHEIM (1900–1984), lawyer and politician, was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He practiced as a solicitor and in 1952 was appointed chairman of the Jamaican Industrial Development Corporation, a post he held until 1957. Ashenheim became a member of the Legislative Council in 1959 and was appointed minister without portfolio in 1962. He served as the first Jamaican ambassador to Washington from 1962 until 1967 and received a knighthood in 1963. In 1967 he was appointed to the Jamaican Senate   as the leader of government business, and he was included in the Cabinet as minister of state for finance, serving until his party, the Jamaica Labor Party, was defeated in the elections of February 1973.