As one of his final wishes, the late author, historian, and publisher Gerard “Jerry” Besson was cremated wearing a University of the West Indies tie — an indication of the esteem he placed on the institution.
Besson’s relationship with The UWI dates all the way back to the late 1970s when he served on the St Augustine Campus Council from 1979 to 1985. Thirty years after his council appointment, Besson was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2015.
The doctorate was an amazing feat for someone born in 1942, in Port of Spain, during a time when learning disability diagnoses were virtually non-existent. It wasn’t until he was an adult that Besson was able to identify his childhood reading issue: dyslexia. After being initially traumatised by education, he came full circle. He became a noted writer and publisher with a 50-year career, and he was recognised not only by the academy, but also the people of T&T. Besson was also awarded a Hummingbird Medal in 2007.
“Jerry saw the appointment to the Campus Council as both pivotal in his personal life as well as a great honour to have been bestowed on him,” Besson’s widow, Alice Besson, tells UWI TODAY.
“Being dyslexic, his formal schooling was cut short in the 1950s due to the inability of the teaching system at the time to accommodate children with learning disabilities. As such, without any degrees or certificates to his name, to serve on the Council of the country’s highest educational body for seven years was exceedingly gratifying for him.”
She adds, “If I remember correctly, one of the achievements he took pride in while serving on the council was the establishment of the public relations function at the St Augustine Campus.”
According to Alice, while serving on the council, Besson also established lifelong friendships with faculty members like the late Professor Brinsley Samaroo and Professor John La Guerre.
“The honorary doctorate was a dream come true for him. He absolutely loved The UWI. The little boy, who in 1948 was expelled from Tranquillity because he couldn’t read, received a doctorate of letters 60 years later – a hard-won achievement if there ever was one,” notes Alice.
In 1981, Besson, who passed away in July, founded Paria Publishing – a publishing house primarily dedicated to the history and culture of Trinidad and Tobago. With a background in advertising, he guided Paria through the publication of over 130 books. Many were rare reprints on T&T history. Besson himself was the author of over a dozen books of fiction and non-fiction including Folklore and Legends of Trinidad and Tobago, The Book of Trinidad (with Professor Bridget Brereton), The Angostura Story and Roume de St Laurent: A Memoir.
Writer and editor Judy Raymond was one of Besson’s many literary co-conspirators and friends. She describes him as both whimsical and extremely knowledgeable.
“He loved this place (T&T), found it endlessly fascinating, and had a passion for sharing what he knew or thought about it with other people, which I presume was the impulse that gave rise to Paria” says Raymond.
“Paria,” she says, “has also done immensely valuable work in reprinting books which otherwise would be impossible to find now, such as the Caribbean Quarterly of 1954, which contains a number of essays by experts about aspects of Carnival, old-time characters and customs, which is indispensable for anyone studying Carnival traditions. The company was a vehicle for publishing Jerry’s own books, some fiction, some non-fiction, but it also published a number of useful and important books for anyone interested in local history.”
Professor Brereton, Emerita Professor of History at The UWI, shared similar sentiments, noting the important work Besson contributed to local museums. He served as the director of the National Museum and Art Gallery, and curated numerous museums throughout Trinidad, including the Museum of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, The Angostura Museum, and the Museum of Port of Spain.
Yet, Brereton will also fondly remember Besson for his storytelling.
“If I had to describe him in one word, it’s irrepressible. Jerry loved to talk. He was a raconteur. He loved telling stories, some of them tall stories, which is what he named his house in St Ann’s. He was bouncy, he was bubbly, and something of a romantic. There was just something about the way he saw the world,” she tells UWI TODAY.
It is for this unique perspective and vast historical expertise which Alice believes Besson will be best remembered.
“Jerry will be remembered by the people who knew him personally, whom he helped in their own academic and artistic endeavours, whom he taught, inspired and motivated. He will be remembered by the readers of the many books he wrote and his blog, Caribbean History Archives, whose readership reached the two million mark in the first decade of its existence. And thanks to the people of Trinidad and Tobago, he will always be a part of a select group of citizens on whom was bestowed the Hummingbird Medal Gold and an honorary doctorate as an expression of their gratitude and recognition,” she says.
She plans to continue operating Paria Publishing, and in 2024 the company will posthumously publish a trilogy of historical fiction novels, Philippine, which Besson worked on up until his death.
