SUNDAY 4 FEBRUARY, 2018 – UWI TODAY
9
PROFESSOR GEORGE MAXWELL RICHARDS TRIBUTE
On Tuesday morning,
the St. Augustine Campus
Community of The University of the West Indies paid
respect to their former Principal when staff, faculty, and
students lined the way as the public cortège drove through
the St. Augustine Campus, along a route that included the
Max Richards Building – Faculty of Engineering, the JFK
Undercroft, the Campus Principal’s Office, and the Main
Administration Building.
While Professor George Maxwell Richards, former
President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, belonged
to the people of Trinidad and Tobago for the 10 years he
served as its fourth President, we at the St. Augustine
Campus consider that he belonged to us first and always
will. He is ‘our’ Max. He was, quite coincidentally, the fourth
Principal of the UWI St. Augustine Campus. He also served
as Dean of Engineering from 1974 to 1979. Indeed, he was
Dean when I graduated from that Faculty in 1978.
This year marks the 70-year milestone ofThe University
of the West Indies. As one of only two regional universities
globally, this institution has been completely committed
to enhancing every aspect of Caribbean development and
improving the well-being of the people of this region. And,
as we mourn the passing of Professor George Maxwell
Richards, we are mindful that he was also a scholar, a
colleague, a leader and, most of all, an avowed patriot and
lover of all things Trinidad and Tobago and Caribbean. He
exemplified our 70 years of leadership and of service.
I have spoken to several colleagues and friends of
Professor Richards, from former Campus Principals,
administrative staff and lab technicians, and this tribute is
truly a compendium and a representation of the feelings of
our Campus Community.
Professor Max Richards was a thoughtful, fair-minded
and approachable servant leader throughout his many years
atThe University of theWest Indies, St. Augustine Campus.
He came to academia from industry, and understood the
vital connection between academic study and practical
exposure and experience.
Professor Richards was one of a small group of
engineers, including Professors Emeriti Ken Julien,
Desmond Imbert, and Harry Phelps, who established the
Faculty of Engineering, saving it from collapse soon after
its birth when the UN-funded academics left en masse.
They went on to grow the St. Augustine Campus’ Faculty
of Engineering to national, regional, and international
recognition as a top-class Faculty for educating engineers
from the Caribbean and the wider world and a main driver
of this region’s industrial development. It was during
Professor Richards’ stint as Dean that the Faculty began its
major infrastructural expansion.
Engineers are trained to be rational, yet innovative
thinkers and to take managed risks. This training would
come in handy when he became Pro Vice-Chancellor and
Principal of the St. Augustine Campus from 1985 to 1996.
It was a financially challenging time. Yet he was the
right man at the right time to steer our Campus in that
period of financial hardship and general uncertainty of the
late 1980s and early 1990s, with unfailing calm, affability,
and good humour. Through remarkable efforts, ingenuity
and risk-taking, Professor Richards not only ensured the
relatively smooth continued operations of the Campus but,
indeed, achieved growth.
His ability to engage the corporate sector through The
UWI Development and Endowment Fund and to forge a
unique brand forTheUWI Fête has guaranteed its continued
success for more than two decades. Even after retirement
and as President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, he
continued to lend his esteem and support to us atThe UWI.
THE LASTING LEGACY OF
MAX RICHARDS
This is an excerpt of the tribute to His Excellency Professor George Maxwell Richards TC, CMT, PhD,
delivered by Pro Vice-Chancellor and St. Augustine Campus Principal, Professor Brian Copeland at the State funeral on January 17, 2018.
During his stint as Principal, Professor Richards played
a major role in establishing the UWI Institute of Business
which later became the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School
of Business and is now the Arthur Lok Jack Global School
of Business. He served as its first board chairman from
1989 to 1996. In keeping with his vision for the University
he strove to establish the framework required to bridge the
academia and practice in the word of business. The Max
Richards Drive that leads to the main entrance at ALJGSB
was so named for his invaluable contribution.
In 2003, the qualities I have enumerated above, his
experience, and expertise, would give him the confidence
to take up the mantle as this Republic’s first President
without a law degree – serving two terms. His words at that
second inauguration on March 17, 2008 were as indicative
of the man as they were of his love for the country and, in
particular, young people.
In committing to servewith ‘impartiality, independence,
even-handedness, and objectivity’, Professor Max Richards
also pointed out that the ‘underpinnings of strong statehood’
in Trinidad and Tobago were not as ‘sound’ as they should
be especially in relation to the younger generations. A state,
he said, ‘that has not been divided by war and famine and
which fails to achieve its full potential is also a failed state’.
His charge to us then, as it surely must be now, is that
this country must maximise all its opportunities and good
fortune to survive and to grow.
On behalf of The University of the West Indies,
particularly the St. Augustine Campus, I extend sincere
condolences to his wife, Dr. Jean Ramjohn-Richards, and
to his children, Mark and Maxine.
May his soul rest in peace.
PHOTO: KEYON MITCHELL
