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The Honourable
Sir Sonny Ramphal
GCMG AC ONZ OE OCC NIIV OM KC FRSA
The Honourable Sir Sonny Ramphal GCMG AC ONZ OE OCC NIIV OM KC FRSA
	Ramphal in 2015
2nd Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations
	In office; 1 July 1975 – 30 June 1990
Head	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Arnold Smith
Succeeded by	Chief Emeka Anyaoku
2nd Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana
	In office; 1972–1975
Prime Minister	Forbes Burnham
Preceded by	Forbes Burnham
Succeeded by	Frederick Wills
1st Assistant Attorney General of the West Indies Federation
	In office; 3 January 1958 – 31 May 1962
Chancellor of the University of the West Indies
	In office; 1989–2003
Preceded by	Allen Montgomery Lewis
Succeeded by	George Alleyne
Chancellor of the University of Warwick
	In office; 1989–2002
Preceded by	Leslie Scarman, Baron Scarman
Succeeded by	Nick Scheele
Chancellor of the University of Guyana
	In office; 1990–1992
Personal details
Born	3 October 1928; New Amsterdam, Berbice, British Guiana (present-day East Berbice-Corentyne, Guyana)
Died	30 August 2024 (aged 95)
Spouse	Lois Winifred King (m. 1951; died 2019)
Children	4
Education	Harvard Law School
Alma mater	King's College London (LL.B., LL.M.)

Sir Shridath Surendranath Ramphal GCMG AC ONZ OE OCC NIIV OM KC FRSA (3 October 1928 – 30 August 2024), often known as Sir Sonny Ramphal, was a Guyanese politician who was the second Commonwealth Secretary-General, holding the position from 1975 to 1990. He was also the foreign minister of Guyana from 1972 to 1975, and assistant attorney general of the West Indies Federation from 1958 to 1962.

Ramphal was an Earth Charter International Commission member.

Biography

Ramphal was born in New Amsterdam, British Guiana, to an Indo-Guyanese family, and was the eldest of the five children of Grace and Jimmy Ramphal.^[2] One of his grandmothers left British India after refusing to commit the sati practice and emigrated to British Guiana under the Indian indenture system.^[3] 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.^[4]^[5]

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.^[6]

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.^[7]

During Ramphal's time as Commonwealth Secretary-General, the United Kingdom represented by Margaret Thatcher was found to be in a minority of one on the issue of economic sanctions against apartheid South Africa.

With Ingvar Carlsson, he was in 1995 one of the co-chairs of the Commission on Global Governance, which reported on issues of international development, international security, globalization and global governance.

Ramphal died on 30 August 2024, at the age of 95.^[8]

Selected bibliography

Inseparable Humanity: An Anthology of Reflections (Hansib, 1988)
Triumph for UNCLOS: The Guyana-Suriname Maritime Arbitration (Hansib, 2008)
Caribbean Challenges: Sir Shridath Ramphal's Collected Counsel (Hansib, 2012)

Honours and awards

Ramphal was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1966 Birthday Honours.^[9] He was knighted in the 1970 New Year Honours, and invested with his knighthood by the Queen at Buckingham Palace on 3 February.^[10]^[11] He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St. George (GCMG) in 1990.^[12]

On 26 February 1982, Ramphal was appointed an honorary Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).^[13] On 6 February 1990, Ramphal was the 19th appointee to the Order of New Zealand,^[14] New Zealand's highest civil honour. He was decorated as a Member of the Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC) in the first conferment in 1992.^[5] In May 2006 Ramphal was appointed an Honorary Fellow of Royal Society of Arts. He was a vice-president of the Royal Commonwealth Society. The Ramphal Building at the University of Warwick was named in his honour.

In 2002, Rampal was awarded the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize.^[15] In 2003, he was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the President of India.

In popular culture

Ramphal is portrayed by Tony Jayawardena in the fourth season of the Netflix web television series The Crown.^[16]

References

^ "President saddened at passing of Lady Lois Winifred Ramphal". Guyana Chronicle. 24 September 2019.
^ Whiteman, Kaye (2 September 2024). "Sir Shridath Ramphal obituary". The Guardian.
^ Waldman, Amy (12 January 2003). "India Harvests Fruits of a Diaspora". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
^ "Shridath Ramphal". The Integrationist Caribbean. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Sir Shridath Ramphal". The Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
^ "Tributes to Sir Shridath Ramphal on his eightieth birthday". Stabroek News. 3 October 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
^ "Shridath Ramphal".
^ "Shridath Ramphal passes away". Stabroek News. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
^ "London Gazette, Supplement: 44004". London-gazette.co.uk. 3 June 1966. p. 6533. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
^ "London Gazette, Supplement: 45004". London-gazette.co.uk. 30 December 1969. p. 49. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
^ "London Gazette, Supplement: 45036". London-gazette.co.uk. 6 February 1970. p. 1551. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
^ Lightbourne, Tanya (22 October 2011). "Chancellor's choice: Sir Shridath awarded Chancellor's Medal". Barbados Advocate. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
^ Australia: It's an Honour
^ "Honours and Awards" (15 February 1990), 23 New Zealand Gazette 445 at 446.
^ The Tribune dated 13 April 2003, accessed 2 November 2006.
^ "Tony Jayawardena". IMDb.

External links

"Interview with Sir Shridath Ramphal: Commonwealth Oral History Project". School of Advanced Study, University of London. 17 April 2015.
- Transcript of the interview, part one
- Transcript of the interview, part two
The Ramphal Institute - Official website for the continuation of the work of Sir Shridath Ramphal: promoting good governance, economic development and social justice around the world.

Political offices
Preceded by Arnold Smith	Secretary-General for the Commonwealth 1975–1990	Succeeded by Chief Emeka Anyaoku
Academic offices
Preceded by Baron Scarman	Chancellor of the University of Warwick 1989–2002	Succeeded by Nick Scheele