Professor Tara Dasgupta joined the staff at the UWI in 1974. His considerable research output was of high quality and, only six years after moving to the UWI he was appointed the first Professor of Inorganic Chemistry. He led vigorous research programmes in Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms, Electron Transfer Reactions, Solvation Thermodynamics, Pesticide Degradation Processes and Enzyme Models. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (London) in 1979. He received a number of awards, including the Order of Distinction in the Rank of Commander (CD) from the Government of Jamaica. He communicated a sense of research purpose and had an uncanny ability to inspire young people to follow his lead. He produced over 40 MPhil and PhD graduates. Through his ability to remain undeterred by scarce financial resources, the department acquired a Bruker 500 MHz NMR spectrometer, Single Crystal and Powder X-ray diffractometers and other major research instruments. He attracted numerous sizable grants to the department. He was instrumental in arranging a partnership with Tanaud International, a relationship that proved extremely beneficial to the department and the campus. During his headship, applications of computers in Chemistry had been introduced and in 1994, the Department boasted the first website in the Caribbean, (created by Robert Lancashire; http://wwwchem.uwimona.edu.jm/index.html), producing an extensive online chemical education resource.