'Lloyd Algernon Best' (b.
February 27 1934 - d.
March 19 2007) was a
Trinidadian intellectual, columnist,
professor, and
economist.
Best attended the
Tacarigua Anglican School and
Queen's Royal College, in
Port of Spain. He won an island scholarship and graduated from the
University of Cambridge and
Oxford University. In 1957 Best joined the Faculty of the
University of the West Indies in
Mona, Jamaica as a Research Fellow.
He remained as a Professor in Economics until
1976, when he resigned to work full-time at
Tapia House, a political, social and economic organisation. Tapia House was unsuccessful in gaining seats in the
1976 elections, but some the party's members helped form the
National Alliance for Reconstruction, which won the
1986 General Elections.
He was Leader of the Opposition in the
Senate from 1974-1975 and 1981-1983. He was also the founder of the 'Trinidad and Tobago Institute of the West Indies' (known since
2007 as the 'Lloyd Best Institute of the West Indies').
Even though he was in failing health, two weeks before his death Best was hard at work with his colleague and fellow Tapia house member, Eric St Cyr completing his newest work titled ''Economic Policy and Management Choices: A Contemporary Economic History of Trinidad and Tobago, 1950-2005''.
He died at his home, aged 73, from
prostate cancer and
diabetes. He is survived by his wife, journalist
Sunity Maharaj and his six children.
References
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Lloyd Best dies in bed Matroo Carol