Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

HE WAS small in stature with the physique of a featherweight boxer, but for much of his 30 years in politics, Ryan Peralto was a heavyweight in the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

Peralto, a former member of parliament, senator, mayor of Kingston and high-ranking JLP executive, died on Friday morning at the Andrews Memorial Hospital in St Andrew. He was 75 years old.

His son, South East St Mary Member of Parliament Tarn Peralto, said his father died from respiratory failure. He was admitted to hospital on Wednesday evening after complaining of chest pains.

On Friday, the obligatory tributes poured in for a passionate party man and feisty rival.

Both the JLP and the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) remembered Peralto's tireless service to the country.

Man of conviction

"Ryan was a very gutsy individual, a man of conviction," said Douglas Vaz, who served with Peralto in Prime Minister Edward Seaga's government of the 1980s.

Vaz said he first met Peralto in the late 1950s and developed a close friendship with him through the Jaycees movement.

He told The Sunday Gleaner that they were influenced to join the JLP in the mid-1970s due to disenchantment with the socialist policies of the PNP, led by Michael Manley.

Peralto first ran for Parliament in the October 1980 general election when he opposed Manley for the East Central Kingston seat. He lost, but the JLP won the election in a landslide. Three years later, when the PNP refused to contest a snap election called by Seaga, Peralto entered Parliament unopposed as MP for East Kingston.

A loss to the PNP's Easton Douglas for the South East St Andrew seat in the 1989 election was Peralto's final run for Parliament.

For much of the next 15 years, he became Seaga's faithful ally in staving off challenges from various factions in the JLP.

Vaz was one of the stalwarts who fell out with Seaga and left the JLP in the early 1990s to join the National Democratic Movement. He believes Peralto's fierce loyalty to the unpopular Seaga may have hurt his image.

"There was a time when he was punished by the media because of his affiliation with Seaga, but at the same time, he did valuable work with the EAC (Electoral Advisory Committee)," Vaz said.

For 15 years, Peralto was the JLP's representative on the EAC. Depending on which party lost the national poll, the organisation was bashed as incompetent and corrupt.

While cartoonists had a field day with his political antics, Peralto won admirers for his work in making the EAC a proficient and trusted body.

His work in that field was documented in his book, Insuring Your Democracy, which was released in February 2007.

Peralto was awarded the Order of Distinction in 2004 for more than 20 years' service to the Legislature and the EAC.

The eldest of six children born in Kingston, Peralto attended St George's College. He founded and operated the Modern Partitions Limited and Carpets and Drapes Limited and was a long-serving member of the Jamaica Manu-facturers' Association.

He is survived by his wife of 51 years Lorna, eight of his nine children and 16 grandchildren.

howard.campbell@gleanerjm.com