?Vice Chancellor and principal of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Professor Clement Sankat has expressed sadness at the news of Professor Rex Nettleford's death. "Rex touched us all in his own extraordinary way and made us better for this. We will miss him at UWI but through his generosity, his humanity and his life's work, he has left so much for us. Thanks Rex," Sankat said in a statement yesterday. Nettleford died on Tuesday at 8 pm–four hours short of his 77th birthday. He served his entire adult life at UWI. The UWI community described him as a quiet and modest leader.
Nettleford served with five chancellors–Sir Arthur Lewis, his mentor; Sir Philip Sherlock, Sir Roy Marshall, Mr AZ Preston and Sir Alister McIntyre–until he took up the mantle in 1998. The release said even after Nettleford's official retirement in 2004 he continued to serve in the capacity of vice-chancellor emeritus, Professor of Cultural Studies and unofficial advisor to current vice-chancellor, Professor E Nigel Harris. He also served in an advisory capacity to several international organisations, including Caricom, the Organisation of American States, UNESCO, the ILO, the World Bank and the International Development Research Council (IDRC), of which he was a founding director.
