James Alfred George Patrick Irish, more popularly known as Dr. George Irish has died at the age of 76. He had been ailing for some time shared his friend and co-author of the National song Motherland Sir Howard Fergus.
He was a musician, community leader and contributed to building Montserrat’s education systems, culture, and trade unionism. He had a brief foray in politics recounts Dr. Fergus in his book Gallery Montserrat (1996). He ran in 1983 but did not win a seat in the legislative council.
Irish, a graduate of the University of the West Indies was their first recipient of a Ph.D degree in Spanish. He taught at UWI, where he headed the Department of Spanish, in the Dominican Republic and in the United States where he resided until his passing.
Irish was also the Caribbean Research Center and the Office of International Programs at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, New York (part of CUNY).He was Editor-in-Chief and founder of the scholarly Journal of Caribbean studies, Wadabagei, and President of the Caribbean Diaspora Press Inc. and Caribbean American Research Foundation Inc. in New York, according to his Wikipedia page.
He co-founded and was Chancellor of the Universidad Popular de Desarrollo Sostenible de Las Americas (UNIPOP) and founding Board member of the International Center for Sustainable Development (CIDES) in Panama.
He has authored/edited thirty two (32) books including:
Visions of Liberation in the Caribbean, 1992
Life in a Colonial Crucible, 1991
Growth of a Revolutionary Consciousness, 1990
Evolution of a Global and Diasporic Vision
Discourses from Alliouagana and the Diaspora
In 2014, he received the Order of Excellence honour from the Government of Montserrat.
Details on his home going will be shared when they become available.