Memory of CEO lives on with scholarship

WEDNESDAY, JULY 25: A new $15,000 scholarship has been awarded in memory of an insurance company chief who died after being paralyzed in a car accident.

The scholarship, named after former Zurich CEO Shernelle Outerbridge and set up by the Association of Bermuda International Companies (ABIC), was awarded to Michelle Onyia, 17.

A statement issued on behalf of the Outerbridge family, which includes husband Irving and the couple’s three children, said: “As she did so often in her life, so she does in her death.

“Shernelle gives us love, hope, inspiration and guidance.

“And now through this scholarship, in a spiritual sense, she continues to give and make others happy.

“The family would like to thank Zurich for this kind gesture in awarding this scholarship in her name. It’s our hope that the future recipients of this generous award will be inspired to do great things and make this world a better place as Shernelle did.”

Ms Onyia, from Sandys, studied at The Berkeley Institute and intends to major in mathematics at Canada’s Mount Saint Vincent University.

ABIC Education Awards chairman Roy Fellowes said: “This award is a fitting tribute to Mrs Outerbridge’s character and achievement and her own contribution to business in Bermuda.”

Ms Outerbridge died last July after battling back from car crash injuries in a January accident, which left her paralysed from the waist down.

She spent six gruelling months in hospital and rehab in the US, but died suddenly after becoming ill at the family home in St David’s only a week after she got home.

The award in her name is an additional grant to a candidate who has already been identified for an ABIC scholar. It will be awarded on an annual basis.