Dear Editor,
Laurence Clairmonte Clarke, one of Queen’s College’s greatest scholar-athletes and loyal lifetime member of the African Cultural & Development Association (ACDA) passed away in his adopted continent of Africa. Laurence’s legacy at Queen’s College was carved into the school’s history during QC’s golden age of sports. Although he never played table tennis for Guyana, Laurence was the driving force who through relentless competition and love of his alma mater and sports, nurtured the likes Michael Christophe and Eric Phillips in the National Table Tennis team. He was an inspirational player athlete and a tenacious team member. Laurence will go down as one of the architects of ‘excellence’ in both academic and extracurricular activities at Queen’s College. During Laurence’s time QC represented Guyana in cricket, table tennis and soccer.
It has taken me over a week to write this letter about the passing of Laurence Clarke as I have hundreds of incredible memories of him. He was an integral part of my life as a student and dear friend. When I lived in South Africa I visited Zambia once every two months and Laurence was always there to ‘old talk’ and to discuss national development in Guyana. His brother lived with me for six months in South Africa.
Laurence Clarke was first a scholar extraordinaire. He was gifted and fluent in three languages: English, French and Portuguese. Laurence earned a PhD in Monetary Economics from the University of the West Indies; a Masters in Business administration from the University of Windsor in Canada (in Finance and International Business 1st class); a BSc in Economics at the University of Guyana and a Bachelors in Commerce from the University of Windsor (Special honours).
At Queen’s College, Laurence earned 8 ‘O’ level and 3 ‘A’ level passes.
Laurence for many years served at the World Bank and especially in Africa where most recently he was an acclaimed economist, chartered international banker and Director of the World Bank in Maputo, Mozambique, where he died. He was one of Guyana’s brightest minds.
At ACDA, Laurence was one of the loyal advisors to the organization. Together with Dr Kenneth King and Clarence Ellis, Laurence played an important role in ACDA’s evolution and is certainly one of ACDA’s heroes and role models for kids at our school.
Many of us will remember Laurence at Queen’s. He was a track and field champion for many years and still holds a school record in the triple jump. His leadership qualities were seen at a very early age. He was a school prefect (politics preventing him from being the head prefect); Head Prefect of Austin House; table tennis Captain; member of the cricket team; Editor of the QC newspaper and magazine; and Sergeant of the school Cadet Corps.
Laurence was also a member of ASCRIA and was selected as the Presi-dent of the Young Socialist Movement in Plaisance/Sparendaam. His extraordinary academic, cultural and community awareness resulted in Laurence heading a five-man delegation to the World Assembly of Youth at the United Nations in 1970.
The greatness of Laurence Clarke goes far beyond his academic, athletic and global achievements. Laurence’s greatness lies in his humility and the deep loyal friendships he created and sustained. Without a doubt, Guyana has lost a true gem and a role model for all of us.
To Laurence Clarke, a leader, scholar, athlete, intellect, development expert, friend of Africa, friend of Guyana , loyal member of ACDA, QC hero– Fideles Ubique Utiles.
May his immortal soul rest in peace
Yours faithfully,
Eric Phillips
Executive Member
ACDA