Goodbye, Prof Emeritus Brinsley Samaroo

FAMILY, friends, colleagues, past students and well-wishers gathered to say farewell to Prof Brinsley Samaroo at a memorial service on Friday at Daaga Hall, UWI, St Augustine. He died last Sunday at age 84 after a brief illness. Campus principal Rose Marie Belle-Antoine welcomed mourners.

Numerous tributes attested to his pioneering and enduring contribution to both the study of history and the practice of politics.

Samaroo was a retired UWI lecturer and a past government minister, senator and MP.

Historian Prof Bridget Brereton said Samaroo had brought high quality study to local history, especially of the East Indian community and labour movement.

Economist and former politician Winston Dookeran said Samaroo had brought his deep historical insights to bear on the practice of politics, to the country’s benefit. Other tributes were delivered by Emancipation Support Committee (ESC) founder Khafra Kambon, UTT president Prof Prakash Persad, and UWI Prof Emeritus Kenneth Ramchand. Many attested to Samaroo’s kind-hearted and warm personality, especially to help students plus foreign researchers.

Among the mourners were former politicians Vasant Bharath, Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie, Tim Hamel-Smith and Embau Moheni.