PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Former principal of the St. Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Dr. Bhoendradatt Tewarie has paid tribute to historian, author, academic, and UWI Professor Emeritus Dr Brinsley Samaroo, who has died at the age of 84.
Dr Brinsley Samaroo. (Photo courtesy of UWI)“Professors Samaroo’s contribution to West Indian history, to the history of East Indians in the Caribbean, to cultural studies, and to Caribbean knowledge and letters generally, was immense,” Tewarie said.
He said Samaroo had made significant contributions to politics and to the government in Trinidad and Tobago.
“He loved people and found it easy to relate at every level of society. He was humble and had a simplicity about him. He loved life and living, cherished research and academic work, shared freely what he knew, and enjoyed people. He gave much, mentored and nurtured many, and asked for little. He went about his business contentedly. He will be missed and I will always remember him fondly.”
In a brief statement, confirming his death on Sunday, his family had said that Samaroo was hospitalized at a private hospital a week ago and that he died “peacefully”.
Media reports said that he had suffered a brain aneurysm.
After obtaining his Bachelor of Arts and MA in History from Delhi University in India, and then his PhD from the University of London, he taught New World and South Asian History at the University of the West Indies becoming the head of the history department.
He was also later appointed a senior research fellow at the University of Trinidad and Tobago.
Samaroo published many books and scholarly articles on Indo-Caribbean history, as well as the history of Trinidad and Tobago’s working class movement, and political and institutional development.
Between 1986 to 1991, he served as the minister of food production in the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) government an amalgam of political parties that inflicted the first defeat in 30 years on the then ruling People’s National Movement (PNM).
Samaroo leaves to mourn his wife, Joan, and daughter, Kavita.
