Sir Shridath “Sonny” Ramphal, the former Guyana government minister and Commonwealth secretary general, died Friday, according to a statement issued by his family. He was 95 years old.
According to the statement, Sir Shridath “a towering figure in international diplomacy and a cherished elder statesman of the Commonwealth and the Caribbean,” died surrounded by his children.
Sir Shridath’s distinguished career spanned numerous pivotal roles: Assistant Attorney-General of the West Indies Federation, Minister of Justice and Foreign Affairs of Guyana, and Secretary-General of the Commonwealth. He also held concurrent positions as Chancellor of the University of Guyana, the University of the West Indies, and Warwick University.
He was the only individual to have served on all the Global Commissions that produced landmark reports on the environment, development, and disarmament between 1980 and 1995. As Chairman of the West Indian Commission, his 1992 report, “Time for Action,” remains a seminal blueprint for Caribbean development.
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.
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.
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.
