News Releases

Another legend falls: The passing of Professor Emeritus John Spence

For Release Upon Receipt - March 7, 2013

St. Augustine


ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad and Tobago – The University of the West Indies joins the national community in mourning the passing of Professor Emeritus John Spence, who died on the night of Wednesday March 6, 2013. He was one of our pioneers at this St Augustine Campus and will be missed by all who knew him, said Principal Clement Sankat.

“I have always held him in high regard because he was a fine gentleman, a thoughtful individual on many national issues of the day, a passionate advocate for agriculture and someone who served us very well at The UWI and for a long time in a leadership capacity,” said Professor Sankat, as he also expressed his condolences to the family of Professor Spence.

The contributions made by John Arnott Spence have been as varied as they have been significant. The scientific world knows his work, which has been recorded in over 50 scientific publications. He has served the national community in several ways, including as an Independent Senator from the period from 1986 to 2000 and has served many important institutions, such as NIHERST, the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute, Association of Professional Agricultural Scientists of Trinidad and Tobago, the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (Rome) and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (Colombia). He sat on advisory committees to the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture and the Commonwealth Science Council.

He had served The UWI as a lecturer and Professor of Botany and was Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture. When he retired in 1989, he turned his energy towards revitalizing the Cocoa Research Unit, and as its head, saw its international recognition for excellence.

In his many roles of service to science, agriculture, education and human life, Professor Spence was tireless, thoughtful and passionate. As a weekly columnist in the national press, writing up to the very end, he maintained the highest standards of research and thoroughness in his discussions and his absence from national discourse will be keenly felt.    

The national community knows this and has recognised it by awarding him the Chaconia Medal (Gold) in 1980. He was also elected Fellow of the Caribbean Academy of Science (1990) and received a NIHERST Lifetime Achievement Award (2000) for his contribution to agriculture.

Funeral arrangements for Professor Spence, 83, have not yet been finalized.

The University extends its deepest condolences to his family.  

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About UWI

Over the last six decades, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged University with over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, with main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. UWI recently launched its Open Campus, a virtual campus with 45 physical site locations across the region, serving 16 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean. UWI is an international university with faculty and students from over 40 countries and collaborative links with over 60 universities around the world. Through its seven Faculties, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Food & Agriculture, and Social Sciences.

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

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