T & T'S FIRST FORESTER DIES

Hollis Murray died in Canada on June 11, 1999. Who was Hollis Murray?

He was the first and most distinguished forester that this country has ever produced.

I first met this very kind and gentle man in 1959 at the Forest Department where I had a brief attachment prior to proceeding to Scotland to study forestry on a government scholarship. Hollis himself had returned the previous year from Oxford University where he had studied forestry on a government scholarship.

Hollis was the first national to be appointed to the professional rank of Assistant Conservator of Forests, these posts having been filled hitherto by colonial forest officers. He was on the spot in 1962 when the colonial officers departed upon our attaining independence, so that he could assume the top position of Conservator of Forests. I served under Hollis as an Assistant Conservator of Forests from 1963 until I resigned to pursue post-graduate studies in 1966.

My mother never forgave me for that resignation because, as next in line to Hollis, she reckoned that I could have become Conservator of Forests in 1968. That was the year in which Hollis left the government service to take up a position with the Forestry Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Rome, Italy.

I met up with Hollis in Rome in 1973 when I was being briefed for my first FAO-World Bank consultancy in Burma. Hollis was overjoyed to see another Trini get a break in this European-dominated international organization. Like a good godfather, he went out of his way to make sure that several consulting opportunities came my way as long ass he was stalking the corridors of power in Rome. But he was too good to remain as an Operations Officer at FAO Headquarters.

In 1975 he was posted to Jamaica as the FAO Country Representative. Two years later he was recalled to FAO Headquarters and assigned to the Director General's Cabinet, the seat of power at the FAO.

Eight years later in 1986, he was made Director of the Cabinet. He served the fastidious Director General Edouard Saouma unstintingly and it came as no surprise that, in recognition of Hollis' abilities, Saouma appointed him Assistant Director General of the Forestry Division of the FAO in 1988. He held this, the most prestigious international forestry opposition, until his retirement from the organization in 1994.

Hollis could have retired with his devoted wife, Margaret, to Canada to be close to their children Karen, Russell and Curtis. He, however, chose to let his bucket down in Trinidad and Tobago to give his native country the benefit of his years of international experience that covered 58 different countries. He accepted the modest position of Project Co-ordinator of the World Bank National Parks Project in the Ministry of Agriculture. The Caribbean Forest Conservation Association (CFCA) worked very closely with Hollis on this project.

It was during this time that we noticed in Hollis what appeared to be a lower back problem. It got progressively worse but he stuck to his job, taking trips to Canada during lulls in the project to get medical treatment. On his return from one such trip Hollis started to use a cane and he struggled to get up the stairs to his office in the Agricultural Planning Department of the Ministry.

It was only when he lost feeling in his legs and was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease that he decided to pack it in and emigrate to Canada so that he could get the best of medical attention. But the best cannot deal with Mr. Gehrig. Hollis deteriorated fast and died peacefully in his sleep last month in the loving arms of God.

Up to his death, Hollis was serving as a member of a Blue Ribbon panel developing a long-term strategy for forestry development in Canada. It was not only Canada and Trinidad and Tobago that recognized his talent.

He received an Order of Merit in September 1991 from the Government of France. In July of the same year, he received an award from the Italian Academy of Forestry and Science.

Some time ago, Professor Laurie Wilson of UWI asked my opinion on an award of an Honorary Doctorate to Hollis. I endorsed the suggestion but nothing ever came of it. Perhaps the time has come for the University to make this award, posthumously.

Hollis Murray is deserving of the highest honours. He was not only a distinguished international forester, but he was also an exemplary husband and father, and, most importantly, a truly decent man. May he rest in peace.

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