UWI lecturer Louis Regis dies

University lecturer Dr Louis Regis, 66, died on Tuesday morning at the San Fernando General Hospital.

Regis’s funeral is tentatively arranged for Saturday, a close relative said yesterday.

He was a lecturer in English literature in the Faculty of Humanities and Education.

He was noted for his authoritative works on calypso, having written research pieces including The Folk in the Caribbean, in the Routledge Companion to Anglophone Caribbean Literature; Black Stalin – Kaisonian; and The Political Calypso: True Opposition in TT (1962-1987). His last book was Ethnicity and Nationalism in T&T Calypso (1970-1998).

Regis wrote poems and plays which were presented at secondary schools drama festivals spanning several years from 1985.

Former teacher and playwright Victor Edwards described Regis as a true friend who passed on his knowledge with a passion to many, particularly in south, about the arts and culture. He said, “He was a friend whose love for the arts, for calypso in particular, saw him writing several published research pices."

Regis directed several plays in the 1990s which won several secondary school drama festivals, Edwards said.

He had two children, one of whom topped the CAPE examination in the performing arts and another who is an avid dancer.