Sir K. Dwight Venner, who served as Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) from 1989 to 2015 has died at the age of 70.
According to reports, he passed away late Thursday, December 22, 2016 in St. Lucia.
Venner was in 1996 named a Commander of the Order of the British of the British Empire (CBE), and in 2001 promoted to Knight (KBE) in the same order.
In 2012, Sir Dwight an economist, who was born in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, received the St. Lucia Cross for outstanding contribution in economics and finance.
Upon hearing of his death, former premier of Montserrat Reuben T. Meade shared the following tribute on his Facebook profile.
“It is with profound sadness that I learned of the passing of Sir K Dwight Venner on December 22nd. Having worked alongside him as Minister of Finance from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2009 to 2013, I gained appreciation for his commitment to the region and his work as Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank.
“Sir Dwight served the people of this region with humility and grace, using his vast knowledge to provide solid advice and guidance to monetary and economic policy in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union for over three decades.
“It was not beyond him to make use of the resources at his disposal. I recall Sir Dwight often finding the time to reach out to me for advice and discuss a range of solutions to the economic issues affecting the sub-region. In this way he was able to continually provide sound advice to the membership of the monetary union. He stood up to the likes of the International Monetary Fund when their strategy for dealing with our economic and banking issues were not seen to be in the best interest of the people of the subregion. He was unquestionably a very gifted intellectual in our region.
“As a fellow economist and lover as cricket, as he was, I thank Sir Dwight for his invaluable contributions to the region and extend condolences to his wife, Lynda, and their seven children.
“He has run a good race, peacefully may he rest from his labours among us.”
