The University of the West Indies community mourns the passing of Dr. Fitzroy Baptiste on Saturday, July 7 and extends condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. Dr. Baptiste had a long, varied and distinguished academic career at the UWI, starting with his first appointment in October 1968 as Assistant Lecturer in Afro-Asian Studies (as it was then called) in the Department of Sociology and Politics at the St. Augustine Campus and continuing after his formal retirement in August 2001. He was chairman of African and Asian Studies for several periods in the 1970s and 1980s; and opted to join the Department of History when African & Asian Studies was merged into History. He served as Head of the Department of History in 1987-88, as Vice Dean of the Faculty of Arts and General Studies in 1982-83, as President of WIGUT (for two separate periods) in the 1980s and 1990s, and as Chair of the Non-Academic Staff Appointments Committee at St. Augustine. He also served as President of the SCR.

Dr. Baptiste was also Visiting Professor of the African Diaspora at Howard University (1989-90); Visiting Professor at Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria (1990); Visiting Professor in the African and Latin American Studies Programme, Colgate University, USA, (1992-93); Fulbright Visiting Professor in African, African-American and Caribbean Studies, Oberlin College, USA, (1998-99).

Dr. Baptiste was single-handedly responsible for the consolidation of teaching and research in the History of Africa and the African Diaspora at St. Augustine, and taught at the Mona campus in the Department of History and Archaeology since 2004, distinguishing himself as a meticulous and dedicated teacher and a first rate team player.

The Service of Thanksgiving for the life of Fitzroy Baptiste will be held in the University Chapel on Wednesday, July 18 at 10 am.