Book excerpt: Firstborn, which celebrates the legacy of Luis Fred Kennedy, his family and business, is a narrative that takes on a character of its own, larger than life. At the age of twenty one, after the sudden death of his father in 1930, Luis Fred became co-manager of Grace, Kennedy & Co. Ltd., a Jamaican enterprise founded by his father and Dr. John J. Grace in 1922. Serving as Governing Director (1947-1973), Luis Fred Kennedy laid the foundation for the company to become what it is today—a global consumer group, one of the largest and most innovative corporate entities in the Caribbean. The author portrays his father Luis Fred Kennedy to be a passionate nationalist, humanist, and advocate of private enterprise, one who had a positive and lasting impact on the political and economic history of Jamaica. Fred Kennedy interweaves the threads of family, business, and nation by combining historical research with his own personal stories, enhanced by interviews, illustrations, and photographs. Firstborn will interest those with ties to Jamaica or, more universally, anyone eager to learn the secrets of corporate leadership and of the characteristics of centenarian companies like GraceKennedy Ltd. that have prospered for one hundred years.