Lio Seemungal is dead at 83

TRINIDAD and Tobago has lost one of its outstanding scholars. Lionel Augustine Seemungal died at the St Clair Medical Centre Tuesday after ailing for sometime. He was 83. Seemungal, who was born in San Fernando on July 23, 1920 attended the San Fernando Boys’ RC School where he won a government exhibition to attend Queen’s Royal College. He won a House Scholarship from that institution in 1935 and later copped an Island Scholarship in mathematics as well as the prestigious Jerningham Gold Medal.

He attended Toronto University and graduated with a Bachelors Degree (First Class Honours) in Law, from Cambridge University in 1947/48. Seemungal obtained his Master of Laws degree in 1949 from Cambridge and his Master of Arts from the same institution in 1951. He practised his profession in the English Courts before returning to Trinidad where he was admitted to legal practice. He was a State (Crown) Prosecutor from 1952 to 1953. His scholastic achievements saw him cop a number of awards, both locally and internationally. The holder of the Chaconia Medal of the Order of the Trinity (CMT) — Gold, Seemungal was a man for all seasons. He was active in the public service and served on many sporting bodies, including boxing, football, weightlifting and rifle shooting.