News Releases

The passing of Professor Emeritus Lawrence Aldridge Wilson

For Release Upon Receipt - December 3, 2013

St. Augustine


ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad and Tobago – Professor Lawrence Aldridge Wilson passed away on Monday 2, after a short illness. Professor Wilson, who had contributed significantly to research and development in the field of tropical agriculture, died at his St Augustine home in the presence of his family. He was 79. 

A Professor Emeritus at The University of the West Indies (UWI) since he retired in 2002, Professor Wilson had joined its Faculty of Agriculture in 1967 as a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Plant Physiology/Biochemistry after three years at the Ministry of Agriculture’s Central Experiment Station in Centeno. 

He was well known regionally and internationally for his work in tropical root crop physiology and post-harvest biology, which were the primary areas of his training and subsequent research. One of the early graduates of the University College of the West Indies in Jamaica, he graduated with the BSc (Botany, Zoology, Chemistry) in 1957 and the MSc in Plant Physiology (1960), before going to the University of Bristol, Long Ashton Research Station, where he obtained the PhD in Plant Physiology in 1964. 

Returning to Trinidad, he pursued research on mineral nutrition of vegetable and field crops, such as sweet potato, cassava and yams, and the formulation of fertilizer recommendations for farmers. By 1975, he was appointed a Professor of Crop Science and served UWI as Head of that Department (1975-1980) and as Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture for three terms over 1981-1986 and 1991-1994. 

He introduced courses in Plant Biochemistry, Post-harvest Physiology and Commodity Utilization to BSc and MSc curricula, and as Dean he contributed to the introduction of Extension research and development, short-course and certificate training as well as Distance Education at the postgraduate level. 

He also supported the Faculty Commodity Research Programme and led the University’s Root Crop Programme, which pioneered an agro-economic outreach programme with farmers, using techniques known as “on farm” research. He was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the UWI journal, “Tropical Agriculture” in July 2005. 

In 2012, UWI St Augustine named one of its labs in the Department of Food Production, Faculty of Food and Agriculture, the Lawrence Wilson Food Biology Laboratory. 

Professor Wilson’s contributions were global. He sat on many boards and was consultant to many countries on behalf of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (India, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines). 

In 2000, he received the NIHERST Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to root crop research and post-harvest biology, and their website lists some of his international positions.  

According to the website: “He served on the Board of Trustees of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, as the Chairman of CGIAR, an advisor to the International Foundation for Science, a member of the International Editorial Board of Tropical Science and the Board of the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau International (CABI). He was a founding member of the International Society for Tropical Root Crops (and is now an Honorary Life Member), and a Fellow of the Third World Academy of Science. 

“He has also given over 20 years of public service to various national boards, such as the National Council for Technology Development, Fertrin, Central Marketing Agency, Cardi, Caroni, and the Sugarcane Feeds Centre among others.”

His work has been recognized variously. He was made an Honorary Life Member of the Association of Professional Agricultural Scientists of Trinidad and Tobago (APASTT), named an Icon in Science and Technology of Trinidad and Tobago, and received the “Commitment to Excellence Award” in recognition of distinguished teaching and research in Postharvest Physiology and Biochemistry, from the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) in July 2013. 

Professor Wilson was a dedicated and committed family man, quiet and gentle; enjoying friends, family, cricket and steelpan, and his air of calm brought a soothing balm to any atmosphere. He was of that generation that is now taking its leave, and he fully embodied the ideals and aspirations that had so defined the post-independence ethos in the region. The University of the West Indies extends its condolences to his family.  

The funeral for Lawrence Wilson takes place at 10am on Friday 6 at the Our Lady of Fatima RC Church at Bushe St in Curepe, with the interment to follow at the UWI St Augustine campus cemetery.

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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, 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 over 50 physical site locations across the region, serving over 20 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, Pure & Applied Sciences, Science and 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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