Deborah Reed

MARCH 18, 1961 – MARCH 2, 2026

Deborah Reed, a dedicated professional and loving mother, family member and friend, died on March 2, 2026. She was 64.

Born March 18, 1961, in St. Andrew, Jamaica, to Vernon and Fay Lindo and raised in nearby Kingston, Deborah attended all-girls St Andrew High School, where she cemented her drive for learning and a lifelong circle of friends. She went on to complete her undergraduate studies at the University of the West Indies, also studying abroad in France. She briefly worked for her father, a celebrated doctor, at his medical practice before transitioning to work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Deborah moved to the United States in 1986 as a diplomat for the Jamaican Embassy in Washington D.C., living in Silver Spring, Maryland. She graduated with her master’s degree from George Washington University in 1991. She married Michael Reed on Sept. 7, 1991, in Washington, D.C., and they went on to open the lauded but short-lived Nyammin’s Karibi Kafe on Charles Street in Baltimore. Following the restaurant, the two welcomed daughter Anika Reed, moving from Maryland to Tennessee to Georgia before Deborah and Anika moved to Illinois. It was in Georgia that Deborah began working for True Value in 1996, spending the rest of her life and career at the company. Deborah moved with Anika to South Florida in 1999, where she bought a home near her brother, Leighton. Mother Fay and sister Judy would later emigrate from Jamaica and settle close by.

Deborah built her 29-year career at True Value brick by brick, often one of the only women in the rooms of the independent hardware businesses she helped build and support across the Caribbean and eventually globally as Director of International Sales. Deborah twice earned True Value’s President’s Awards and took home two Pride in Partnership Awards, and she was honored as one of HBS Dealer’s 2023 Top Women in Hardware and Building Supply. She leaves behind a legacy of community, advocacy and thriving business operations.

Despite frequent travel for work, Deborah was a devoted mother to Anika for more than 31 years, fiercely supporting her with love and integrity through all of life’s milestones and minutiae.

Deborah is preceded in death by her father, Vernon Oswald Lindo. She is survived by her daughter, Anika; mother Fay; brother Leighton (Donna); sister Judith; nephews Christian and Jason; niece Stephanie, and grandnieces Yori and Karson; and many cherished family members and friends.

livestream link from the church: https://www.youtube.com/live/DsmMvxKXHFU.