Rose Leon

Rose Agatha Leon (20 October 1913 – 16 August 1999) was a Jamaican businesswoman and politician. In August 1999, she was murdered in her home.

Biography Leon was born Rose Agatha Huie to pharmacist Benjamin Joseph Huie and Adella Murray on 20 October 1911 in Saint Ann Parish. She was educated in the Central Branch Elementary School and Wolmer’s Girls' School, both in Jamaica, and later in New York City at the Abyssinian School of Cosmetic Chemistry. Leon was married to Arthur Alexander Leon in 1932; the couple had two children.

Politics Leon first became politically active in the early 1940s, when she became a councilor for the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation. From 1944 she was a member of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). In 1949, she was elected into the Jamaica House of Representatives, and in 1953 was appointed minister of health and social welfare, holding that post until 1955. Leon held her seat in the 1955 elections, beating PNP candidate William Seivwright. In 1960 she left the JLP due to its lack of support for the Federation of the West Indies. In 2002 an annual lecture in her memory was created by the Jamaica Women's Political Caucus.