TTPost MD funeral on Saturday: He used to swim far out

THE funeral service of TTPost managing director Richard Saunders will take place on Saturday at the Our Lady of Fatima Roman Catholic Church, Bushe Street, Curepe, from 9.30 am.

Saunders got into difficulties while swimming at Macqueripe Beach on Sunday and efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.

The former campus registrar at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine, will be buried at the UWI cemetery and a repast will follow at the University Inn and Conference Centre, 30 St Augustine Circular Road, St Augustine.

Saunders was one of the leaders in the TT Telephone Company Ltd (Telco) who helped revolutionise and digitise the former analogue system. As the general manager of TT Post he hoped to do the same.

"I have a great admiration for Richard Saunders. I knew him from the start of his career. Richard Saunders was one of the people who helped digitise the telephone industry," said his former boss Nielson McKay, former executive director of Telco.

McKay described the analogue days of Telco as a difficult time where people needed to be connected on the phone via an operator rather than direct dial.

McKay was given a mandate by the government to hire Trinidadian technicians to work digitising Telco.

"In 1981 I was asked to head up the telephone company. Trinidad didn't have engineers to get things working. Didn't have enough technical people to execute. My mandate was to get Trinis wherever they were in the world to work," he said.

Saunders who has a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of the West Indies (UWI) and an MSc from the University of Wales, Swansea was one of his picks.

McKay formed a think tank, or a do tank as he described it, of trained people to help revolutionise the telecommunications department. Richard was hired as assistant general manager.

"We thought we had a mission. We were so committed to make TT better. They turned the company into a really modern digital company. We totally rejuvenated the telephone company," he said.

The work done to digitise Telco, Richard hoped to execute in TT Post as general manager, so said his elder brother, Prof Ramsey Saunders, Monday.

"He was really keen on modernising the Post Office. He wanted to make it as up to date as the US post system," the elder Saunders said.

Richard drowned on Sunday morning at Macqueripe Bay. Ramsey said his brother had swum there for approximately 20 years.

"He used to swim very far out. There's a group of elderly people who swam at Macqueripe on Sunday mornings. They would go way out. He's been doing that for over 20 years," Ramsey said.

Autopsy results showed Richard drowned, but his heart showed signs of hypertension.

Richard was a friendly, easy going man who sought to keep clear communications in all aspect of his life.

"He was a person who got along with all people. He was like the glue in our family. He was always keeping in contact. He knew everyone and tried to stay in contact with them. He was very easy to get along with and made friends easily," Ramsey said.

Richard attended Arima Boys' Government Primary School, from where he won a college exhibition to St Mary's. He was one of three boys in his family to attend the college.

"We were there at the same time. We all went to UWI after that," said Ramsey, who was a lecturer at the University of the West Indies (UWI).

Richard's educational background led him along a career path filled with engineering projects and innovation design in companies. He was the GM of technical operations at Telecommunications Services of T&T (TSTT), he worked at the Airport Authority, was at Guardian Holding Limited where he renovated properties, he owned his own company – Vicar Enterprises Ltd – and he was UWI's campus registrar. He retired from UWI at 65.

Richard was appointed managing director of TTPost in August 2018.