UWI mourns Anthony N Sabga

In reflecting on his life and contributions, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal Professor Brian Copeland said, “Sabga is best known for his acumen for cultivating business opportunities, but his legacy of generosity towards The UWI and the country as a whole will never be forgotten.” In 1998, Sabga was conferred the honorary Doctor of Laws honoris causa, for his contribution to the entrepreneurial landscape of Trinidad and Tobago.

In the citation read at that ceremony by then public orator Professor Emeritus Kenneth Ramchand, Sabga was hailed as “master entrepreneur.” “He was a man who defied easy generalisations about what it means to be successful,” according to the late Michael Mansoor, former campus council chair.

“All of us who know him, know that the concomitant of the lion’s bravery is his roar — a roar which can send shivers down the spines of some, though it may be a clarion call to excellence for others,” the UWI said. “Sabga and by extension the AnSa McAl Group have had strong ties to The UWI dating back to 1989 when ANSA McAL funded a building that housed the ANSA McAL Psychological Research Centre.

The desire to pay back the country for all the blessings bestowed to ANSA McAL was also seen as a motivating factor for the company’s involvement with The UWI.” The UWI also noted that in 2005, Sabga launched the far-reaching philanthropic initiative — the Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence.

It is the only privately funded enterprise in the region that recognises and provides significant awards in the areas of arts and letters, science and technology, public and civic contributions and entrepreneurship.

In 2014, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the St Augustine Campus and ANSA McAL.

The event signalled a deepening of the relationship between ANSA McAL and The UWI with the launch of the Guardian Media School of Journalism, the Anthony N Sabga School of Entrepreneurship and the reopening of the ANSA McAL Psychological Research Centre.