Dear Editor,

It is with deep sadness that I learnt of the passing of my friend and colleague David de Caires. David was co-founder, along with Lloyd Best and Miles Fitzpatrick, of the New World Journal in 1963, which called for a bipartisan, indigenous development programme in Guyana and a coalition government that would heal the fractures in the national movement which had splintered along racial lines.

David de Caires went on to be founder and Managing Editor of the New World Fortnightly, which was published in Georgetown for several years in the 1960s as a voice of independent opinion and critical analysis of Guyanese and West Indian affairs. His most outstanding achievement was undoubtedly the creation and sustaining of Stabroek News, which has justly established a reputation as of the finest daily newspapers in the region, a beacon of independent and informed analysis and fearless defender of press freedom.

David was above all a man of great intelligence, wide reading, unimpeachable integrity, and enduring humour. My sincere condolences are extended to his widow Doreen, the other members of his family and the staff of Stabroek News.

Yours faithfully,
Norman Girvan
University of the West Indies