Wrested indecorously, suddenly, brutishly, and unceremoniously from his bereaved colleagues, students, scholars and friends, Sheldon’s untimely death has left an irremediable vacuum for the foreseeable future. A pensive loner whose agitated mind never really left him alone, he was continuously deep in thought, more often than not about the flawed and pitiful initiatives on regional integration. Jamaican by birth, he was the quintessential Caribbean man by social disposition and political affiliation. He was equally at home in Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago or in Jamaica, land of 
his birth. In Guyana, his services were gratefully engaged by the Caribbean Community, headquartered in Guyana and exemplifying the heartbeat of the regional integration movement. In Trinidad, his services were engaged by the Association of Caribbean States which held out viable prospects of a wider geographical integration movement. In effect, the essence of his being was the achievement of an ever maturing regional economic integration movement.
Mostly alone, either as a young, enthusiastic, inquisitive political activist in Havana or a more mature, experienced diplomatic representative of Jamaica, his personal, private ruminations were as incisive as his guttural resonating laughter which was irrepressively infectious and wont to drive an unwarily infected audience to peals of laughter. Would it were that critical decision-makers of the region were as engrossed as Sheldon Ayon McDonald in thinking about, and, more importantly, thinking through regional integration to its ineluctable conclusion. Commencing his youthful political career as an enthusiastic regional integrationist in the People’s National Party (PNP) of Mr. Michael Manley, Sheldon Ayon McDonald ended his life as the sole, authoritative, concerned tutor of regional integration and Head of the Department of Law of the University of Guyana. As an academic, he distinguished himself at Carleton University of Canada where he established his credentials by inscriptions on the Dean’s list for every year between 1984 and 1987. At Carleton, he benefitted from the F.W. Baldwin Memorial Scholarship (1984), the Murdock Maxwell MacOdrum Scholarship and the Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement in 1987.
Sheldon subsequently proceeded to the University of Nottingham, England, where he was awarded the Lady Hinds Scholarship and the Frederich Ebert Stiftung Fellowship to the Commission of the European Commission.
As an academic and practising international lawyer Sheldon completed his LLM thesis on the “Immunity of States and their Property” and presented several erudite papers on emerging issues. These included dispute resolution, regional integration and its impact on domestic law, the exercise of various rights under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, and the enjoyment of human rights in the Commonwealth Caribbean. He also authored and co-authored various reports in his capacity as Coordinator for the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice, CARICOM Secretariat and General Counsel of the Association of Caribbean States.
Sheldon was the Special Advisor to the Jamaican Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Foreign Trade respectively as well as a member of the Jamaican delegation to the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (1973-82) where he made a significant contribution to the conceptualisation and recognition of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the establishment of the United Nations Seabed Authority in Kingston, Jamaica.
Sheldon was a founding member of the Jamaica Youth Movement (1968), General Secretary of the PNP Youth Organisation (1977-83), a member of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Land Reform and member of the National Council on Youth Employment.
He was also a member of the Jamaican delegation to the United Nation’s General Assembly and the Preparatory Committee for the Establishment of the International Seabed Authority and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. In addition to pivotal roles in the development of various bilateral investment treaties with the Netherlands, the USA, Cuba, Germany, Italy, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Egypt and Zimbabwe, Sheldon was a member of the Jamaican delegation for Maritime Delimitation Treaties with Colombia, Cuba, Honduras and Nicaragua, the Maritime Drug Interdiction Treaty with the United States of America and the Social Security Convention with the United Kingdom.
As Head of the Department of Law at the University of Guyana, Sheldon was prepared to battle for increasing respect and recognition of the Bachelors of Law degree offered at the Turkeyen Campus. He demonstrated courage and sustained leadership on behalf of the University of Guyana as it pursued the renegotiation of the tri-partite Collaborative Agreement which includes the University of the West Indies and the Council of Legal Education. He argued passionately that as one of the original signatories to the Council of Legal Education, the University of Guyana had more than earned its place at the head table and its students some preference at the Hugh Wooding Law School.
A strong believer that higher education must serve the needs of society, Sheldon was in the forefront of initiatives to introduce a number of new law courses at the University including the Diploma and Masters Programmes in Legal Drafting due to begin in the January semester.
Articulate Head of the Department of Law, popular lecturer, loyal friend, respected colleague and committed regional integrationist Mr. Sheldon Ayon McDonald will be surely and sorely missed.
