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| Noor Hassanali (left), Sir Clyde Walcott (right) | |
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, August 28, 2006 - The Caribbean is mourning the deaths of two prominent citizens - Noor Hassanali and Sir Clyde Walcott.
Justice Noor Hassanali, the first Indian-Trinidadian President of Trinidad and Tobago, passed away, in his sleep at his Westmoorings home, 10 kilometers from Port-of-Spain, Friday August 25, 2006 and was buried the same evening according to Islamic traditions.
Justice Hassanali (August 13, 1918 - August 25, 2006) was the second President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (1987 to 1997). A retired High Court judge, President Hassanali was the first Indo-Trinidadian to hold the office of President and was the first Muslim head of state in the Americas. The sixth of seven children, Hassanali was born in San Fernando and was educated at Canaan and Corinth Canadian Mission (now Presbyterian) Primary Schools and Naparima College. After graduating he taught at Naparima from 1938 to 1943.
Noor Hassanali worked as a lawyer in private practice from 1948 to 1953, when he was appointed as a Magistrate. In 1960 he was appointed Senior Magistrate and later that year was appointed Senior Crown Counsel in Attorney General's Chambers. In 1965 he was appointed Assistant Solicitor General and the following year he was appointed Judge of the High Court. In 1978 he was appointed to the Court of Appeal and retired on April 14, 1985. He was elected President in 1987 following elections which brought the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) to government. Although the office of President was largely ceremonial he was such a popular national figure that he was re-elected in 1992 by the People's National Movement (PNM) administration.
Hassanali was described as "one of the most neutral, reserved, and dignified figures in the history of T&T politics". When he was inaugurated as President in 1987 he was described as "a person of impeccable credentials who has a reputation for honesty and humility of the highest order." As a Muslim, Hassanali chose not to serve alcoholic beverages at President's House. Despite reservations on the part of then-Prime Minister ANR Robinson, the decision was never seen as controversial by the public.
He was married to Zalayhar Mohammed and had two children, Khalid and Amena Hassanali-Sutton. Hassanali succeeded Ellis Clarke (1976-1987) and was succeeded by Arthur N.R. Robinson (President 1997-2003).
SIR CLYDE WALCOTT
Sir Clyde Leopold Walcott (January 16, 1926 - August 27, 2006), born in New Orleans, Bridgetown, was an outstanding West Indian cricketer and a member of the 'three W's', along with Everton Weekes and Frank Worrell, noted as outstanding batsmen from Barbados who all made their debut against England in 1948.
He passed away Saturday August 26, 2006.
In 1955, playing against Australia, Walcott became the first batsman to score five centuries in a single Test series, as he totalled 827 runs from 10 innings, including centuries in both innings of a match twice. Walcott also shares the highest West Indian first-class partnership for any wicket: an unbeaten 574 for the fourth wicket with Frank Worrell for Barbados against Trinidad in 1945/1946. In the early part of his career, Walcott also kept wicket for his country.
Walcott retired from Test cricket in 1960, and in 1992 became a match referee. He was elected chairman of the International Cricket Council in 1993, and in 1994 he was knighted for services to cricket.
"Sir Clyde was generally a very, very fine person, very, very easy to get on with, and he had a great sense of humour. During his playing days, he was very quiet compared to some of the others ... He was a true friend and a great man. Whenever I batted with him I enjoyed it, and we had some great times together on and off the field. He was a pretty quiet person, but would always find time to talk to you and find out what was going on," Sir Everton Weekes said on leraning of his colleague's passing.
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