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Shridath Ramphal

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The Honourable
Sir Sonny Ramphal
GCMG AC ONZ OE OCC NIIV OM KC FRSA
Ramphal in 2015
2nd Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations
In office
1 July 1975 – 30 June 1990
HeadElizabeth II
Preceded byArnold Smith
Succeeded byChief Emeka Anyaoku
2nd Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana
In office
1972–1975
Prime MinisterForbes Burnham
Preceded byForbes Burnham
Succeeded byFrederick Wills
1st Assistant Attorney General of the West Indies Federation
In office
3 January 1958 – 31 May 1962
Chancellor of the University of the West Indies
In office
1989–2003
Preceded byAllen Montgomery Lewis
Succeeded byGeorge Alleyne
Chancellor of the University of Warwick
In office
1989–2002
Preceded byLeslie Scarman, Baron Scarman
Succeeded byNick Scheele
Chancellor of the University of Guyana
In office
1990–1992
Personal details
Born(1928-10-03)3 October 1928
New Amsterdam, Berbice, British Guiana (present-day East Berbice-Corentyne, Guyana)
Died30 August 2024(2024-08-30) (aged 95)
Spouse
Lois Winifred King
​
​
(m. 1951; died 2019)​
[1]
Children4
EducationHarvard Law School
Alma materKing's College London (LL.B., LL.M.)

Sir Shridath Surendranath Ramphal GCMG AC ONZ OE OCC NIIV OM KC FRSA (3 October 1928 – 30 August 2024), often known as Sir Sonny Ramphal, was a Guyanese politician who was the second Commonwealth Secretary-General, holding the position from 1975 to 1990. He was also the foreign minister of Guyana from 1972 to 1975, and assistant attorney general of the West Indies Federation from 1958 to 1962.

Ramphal was an Earth Charter International Commission member.

Biography

[edit]

Ramphal was born in New Amsterdam, British Guiana, to an Indo-Guyanese family, and was the eldest of the five children of Grace and Jimmy Ramphal.[2] One of his grandmothers left British India after refusing to commit the sati practice and emigrated to British Guiana under the Indian indenture system.[3] After attending schools in Georgetown, Ramphal studied law at King's College London, graduating with LL.B. and LL.M. degrees. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in London in 1951. As a pupil barrister he worked with the British politician and lawyer Dingle Foot. Ramphal continued studying law for a year at Harvard Law School in the US on a 1962 Guggenheim Fellowship.[4][5]

Ramphal started his legal career as a Crown Counsel in the Attorney-General's Office in 1953, becoming Solicitor-General and then Assistant Attorney-General of the short-lived West Indies Federation. After a period in private practice in Jamaica, he returned to British Guiana in 1965 to be the Attorney General. Two years later, he was also appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs, later becoming Minister of Justice (from 1973) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (from 1972). In 1975, he left Guyana to become Commonwealth Secretary-General.[6]

He also served as the Chancellor of the University of Warwick from 1989 to 2002, of the University of the West Indies from 1989 to 2003, and of the University of Guyana from 1990 to 1992.[7]

During Ramphal's time as Commonwealth Secretary-General, the United Kingdom represented by Margaret Thatcher was found to be in a minority of one on the issue of economic sanctions against apartheid South Africa.

With Ingvar Carlsson, he was in 1995 one of the co-chairs of the Commission on Global Governance, which reported on issues of international development, international security, globalization and global governance.

Ramphal died on 30 August 2024, at the age of 95.[8]

Selected bibliography

[edit]
  • Inseparable Humanity: An Anthology of Reflections (Hansib, 1988)
  • Triumph for UNCLOS: The Guyana-Suriname Maritime Arbitration (Hansib, 2008)
  • Caribbean Challenges: Sir Shridath Ramphal's Collected Counsel (Hansib, 2012)

Honours and awards

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Ramphal was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1966 Birthday Honours.[9] He was knighted in the 1970 New Year Honours, and invested with his knighthood by the Queen at Buckingham Palace on 3 February.[10][11] He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St. George (GCMG) in 1990.[12]

On 26 February 1982, Ramphal was appointed an honorary Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).[13] On 6 February 1990, Ramphal was the 19th appointee to the Order of New Zealand,[14] New Zealand's highest civil honour. He was decorated as a Member of the Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC) in the first conferment in 1992.[5] In May 2006 Ramphal was appointed an Honorary Fellow of Royal Society of Arts. He was a vice-president of the Royal Commonwealth Society. The Ramphal Building at the University of Warwick was named in his honour.

In 2002, Rampal was awarded the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize.[15] In 2003, he was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the President of India.

[edit]

Ramphal is portrayed by Tony Jayawardena in the fourth season of the Netflix web television series The Crown.[16]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "President saddened at passing of Lady Lois Winifred Ramphal". Guyana Chronicle. 24 September 2019.
  2. ^ Whiteman, Kaye (2 September 2024). "Sir Shridath Ramphal obituary". The Guardian.
  3. ^ Waldman, Amy (12 January 2003). "India Harvests Fruits of a Diaspora". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  4. ^ "Shridath Ramphal". The Integrationist Caribbean. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Sir Shridath Ramphal". The Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  6. ^ "Tributes to Sir Shridath Ramphal on his eightieth birthday". Stabroek News. 3 October 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  7. ^ "Shridath Ramphal".
  8. ^ "Shridath Ramphal passes away". Stabroek News. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  9. ^ "London Gazette, Supplement: 44004". London-gazette.co.uk. 3 June 1966. p. 6533. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  10. ^ "London Gazette, Supplement: 45004". London-gazette.co.uk. 30 December 1969. p. 49. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  11. ^ "London Gazette, Supplement: 45036". London-gazette.co.uk. 6 February 1970. p. 1551. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  12. ^ Lightbourne, Tanya (22 October 2011). "Chancellor's choice: Sir Shridath awarded Chancellor's Medal". Barbados Advocate. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  13. ^ Australia: It's an Honour
  14. ^ "Honours and Awards" (15 February 1990), 23 New Zealand Gazette 445 at 446.
  15. ^ The Tribune dated 13 April 2003, accessed 2 November 2006.
  16. ^ "Tony Jayawardena". IMDb.

Further reading

[edit]
  • Richard Bourne, Shridath Ramphal: The Commonwealth and the World (Hansib, 2009)
[edit]
Political offices
Preceded by Secretary-General for the Commonwealth
1975–1990 		Succeeded by
Academic offices
Preceded by Chancellor of the University of Warwick
1989–2002 		Succeeded by
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