Cebu ‘seaweed king’ Benson Dahay; 56

CEBU CITY—The country’s pioneer in seaweed processing lost his battle against kidney cancer. Cebuano businessman Benson Dakay, 56, died on Jan. 5 at the Kindred Hospital Brea in Los Angeles.

According to his eldest daughter, Marie Cecille, her father had been in a coma since Oc. 25 after a trip from Houston, Texas, to Los Angeles, California.

Dakay’s remains will be brought back to Cebu from the US in 10 days. The family plans to hold a three-day wake at the Cosmopolitan Memorial Chapel in Barangay Lahug. Interment details will be announced later.

Dakay, who transformed his family’s seaweed trading company in Cebu into a world leader in carrageenan processing, is survived by his wife, Rosemary and four children: Pierre Collin, 30; Benson Ernest, 26; Marie Cecille, 25, and Mary Ann Rose, 23.

Known as the country’s “seaweed king,” Dakay was chief executive officer of Shemberg Marketing Corp., the country’s top exporter of carrageenan, a gelatinous substance used in food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Dacay put up the first carrageenan refinery in Asia. With a report from Irene Sino Cruz