Prof Persaud had a distinguished career in the Commonwealth Secretariat

Dear Editor,

It was only last week in one of my pieces I mentioned that there are a few outstanding Guyanese in the diaspora. Professor Bishnodat Persaud, CHB, PhD, FRSA, was one of them.

Unfortunately he passed away on Tuesday in the UK. Professor Persaud who was born in Cumberland Canje, Berbice, served as Director of Economic Affairs, Commonwealth Secretariat. He was awarded the Companion of Honour of Barbados in November 2013 in the Barbados Independence Day Honours List for distinguished national achievement and merit for his outstanding contribution to the regional and international public service.

The distinguished professor spent 18 years in the service of the Commonwealth Secretariat (1974-1992); for the last 11 he was Director and Head of the Economic Affairs Division.

Before joining the Commonwealth Secretariat, he was Research Fellow at the University of the West Indies in Barbados, and served for a period as head of the Eastern Caribbean Branch of the Institute of Social and Economic Research in Barbados. His first degree was in Economics from Queens University, Belfast, and he also had a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Reading, UK. He has served as an external examiner for post-graduate degrees for universities in the UK and Malta.

He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in the UK.

He has written a number of articles and reviews in journals, chapters in books and technical reports. He was also a good cricketer

He was the uncle of Dr Hughley Hanoman, Justice Denis Hanomansingh, businessman Roy Hanoman, and Dr Shirley Hanoman Jagroo. In fact his niece received a high national honour from the Barbados government in 2013, at the same time as Professor Persaud was awarded his Companion of Honour.

The funeral will take place on Friday August 5 at 2 pm at Golders Green Crematorium in the UK.

Yours faithfully, Oscar Ramjeet