The region has lost one of its foremost academics and statesmen.
Vice chancellor emeritus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Sir Alister McIntyre, 87, passed away today in Jamaica.
He was born in Grenada and later graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science with first class honours.
Sir Alister was a lecturer in economics at the Mona Campus in Jamaica, which has a building bearing his name. He served as vice chancellor of UWI from 1988 to 1998.
In 1974 he was appointed secretary-general of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
He has been honoured many times, including the Order of CARICOM Community, the Order of Merit from Jamaica, Guyana’s Cacique Crown of Honour and the Chancellor’s 50th Anniversary Award.
Sir Alister leaves to mourn his wife Marjorie, children Arnold, Andrew, Helga and Nicholas.Â
Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley was among those paying tribute to Sir Alister in the following statement:
I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing today of one of the Caribbean’s most treasured scholars, Sir Alister McIntyre, a respected economist, educator, administrator and true champion of regional integration.
My association with Sir Alister, a child of Grenada but in every sense of the word, a son of the Caribbean, goes back to my days as a young politician when Sir Henry Forde introduced me to him as a key member of The West Indian Commission, which was led by Sir Shridath Ramphal.
It was just two weeks ago today that I last spoke with Sir Alister and his voice was as strong and his thoughts and statements as clear and balanced as I have always known him to be, having interacted with him with some frequency when I was Minister of Education and he was Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, and since then.
I have no doubt that the region will miss immensely the depth of thought and analysis that this former economics lecturer, Director of the Institute of Social and Economic Studies of the UWI (since renamed in honour of Sir Arthur Lewis), Secretary General of CARICOM, Deputy Secretary General of UNCTAD, and Assistant Secretary General in the Office of the Director General for International Economic Cooperation at the United Nations brought to the affairs of the people of the Caribbean.
I also express deepest sympathies to the family and close friends of Sir Alister, who will always be remembered as one of the titans of a post-Independence Caribbean. (SAT/PR)
