At the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas on July 4, 1973, the late Dr. Eric Williams called on the assembled Caribbean leaders, diplomats and the 400-plus guests to give William Demas a standing ovation for his stellar role in the success of Carifta and as architect of Caricom.

The thunderous applause in the huge hall, in fact, lasted for two minutes. Afterwards, speaker after speaker searched for superlatives to praise the Carifta Secretary General, then only 43, who was described as " the only civil service economist in the Caribbean with an international reputation".

The tall, gangling Demas, who was on secondment from the Trinidad and Tobago Government (he was William's economic adviser) to the Carifta Secretariat, appeared overwhelmed by the torrent of compliments from the likes of Williams, Michael Manley, Forbes Burnham, Errol Barrow and others.

A man with a deep voice, the ascetic, self-effacing technocrat quietly acknowledged the tribute as he sat, wearing a gray shirt-jac outfit, with the Caribbean leaders at the head table on the stage.

To be singled out by Dr. Williams - a stern, no-nonsense politician who did not tolerate mediocrity - for public tribute was, in itself, an achievement.

The signing of the treaty (although the rules contained therein were destined to be observed more in the breach) was workaholic Willie Demas's crowning glory.

He served as Caricom Secretary General for one year and was succeeded by Alister McIntyre, one of his trusted lieutenants in the regional integration exercise.

William Gilbert Demas was born in Port of Spain on November 14, 1929 and was educated at Tranquillity Boys' Intermediate Government School and Queen's Royal College, where he won an Island Scholarship in 1947.

He read economics at Cambridge University and was among the first wave of economists in the 1950s, who trained abroad, to join the civil service.

He was permanent secretary in the Ministry of Planning and Development and later Williams's economic adviser.

He was also visiting professor of economics at McGill University, Canada in 1966-67 and the following year was seconded to head the Carifta Secretariat.

He left the Caricom Secretariat in 1974 to become president of the Caribbean Development Bank. He was also chairman of the United Nations Development Committee.

In 1988, he succeeded Dr. Euric Bobb as Governor of the Central Bank and was awarded the Trinity Cross that year.

He was also awarded the Humming Bird Medal (Gold), Guyana's Cacique Crown of Honour, Barbados's Companion of Honour and Colombia's Order of San Carlos, and the Order of the Caribbean Community.

Demas also received an honorary doctor of laws from the University of the West Indies (UWI).

He was the author of Economics of Development in Small Countries and numerous tomes on Caribbean economic development.

He served on a number of Government committees, including one in 1981, which he headed to review the infamous Caroni Racing Complex and the Malabar Housing Project.

The following year, he chaired a task force that prepared a multi-sectoral development plan for the period 1983-1986, which was entitled "The Imperatives of Adjustment".

Demas was widely respected in international circles for his work in Caribbean integration and the Caricom model was held up as a framework for other economic groupings.

He married the former Norma Aurelia Taylor in 1958.

They had one daughter, Allison, a lawyer.
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