By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C. – According to a report in Bahamas Press, Billy Bannister, brother of late social media personality Gorman Bannister, “was found unresponsive on a Delta Airlines flight” shortly after it landed at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) in Nassau, Bahamas, on Monday, February 21, 2022.
Billy Bannister boarded the Delta flight from Atlanta to Nassau, and flight attendants “noticed that he was still in his seat long after the other passengers had disembarked the aircraft at LPIA,” Bahamas Press reported.
“However, they assumed he had fallen asleep mid-flight,” Bahamas Pres noted, adding: “When their attempts to wake him up failed, they called in medical officials who pronounced Bannister dead.”
Bahamas Press added: “Bannister’s body was removed from the aircraft. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.
His passing comes months after the death of his Blackbelt publisher brother (Gorman), “who died in hospital last year.”
Billy and Gorman Bannister were sons of the late Everette Bannister, a close associate of Sir Lynden Pindling during his years as Premier and later Prime Minister.
Both Billy and Gorman grew up in New York and moved The Bahamas after their father, a Bahamian living in the New York, established strong ties with Mr. Pindling following the Progressive Liberal Party’s historic January 10, 1967 general election.
Everette Bannister was one of the principal Bahamians in the New York diaspora who welcomed Mr. Pindling and the PLP delegation to New York in February of 1967 at a dinner sponsored by Huntington Hartford, heir to the A.&P. grocery chain fortune, to celebrate the PLP’s historic January 10, 1967, general election victory.
Hartford owned what was then known as Hog Island — which is now called Paradise Island, where the world-renowned Atlantis Resort is located – and he was a strong supporter and financial contributor to the PLP.
As a young man living in New York, Billy Bannister was the road manager for The Temptations, the world-famous singing group, and he maintained close ties with the group over the years, so much so that the following messages are posted on his Facebook Page: “Works at The Temptations, Studied at Morris Brown College, Went to Forest Hills High School, Lives in Nassau, New Providence, From East Elmhurst.”
May his soul rest in peace.
