Prime minister Sir John Compton died late last night in St Lucia, plunging that eastern Caribbean island into mourning for the man regarded by many as a founding father of the nation.
Compton, 81, had been ailing for months since suffering a series of strokes in May this year.

COMPTON. suffered a series of strokes in May

A report in the September 7 online edition of the St Lucia Star newspaper said that Compton "was admitted to Tapion Hospital last weekend after he experienced trouble breathing".
Last year, Compton came out of retirement to lead his United Workers Party (UWP) to an upset election victory, taking 11 of 17 seats in the House of Assembly to end the 10-year rule of Kenny Anthony's St Lucia Labour Party.

In his inauguration address on December 15 last year, Compton, who assumed the finance portfolio, pledged to govern in a spirit of co-operation, adding that his administration would be one for "all the people of St Lucia".
He said his priorities included lowering crime and unemployment, as well as devising programmes to distribute wealth among the island's 165,000 people.

However, on May 1, 2007, he was hospitalised in New York City after he suffered a series of strokes which left him physically impaired.
On May 16, Leonard Montoute, who serves as St Lucia's sports minister and deputy leader of the UWP, said Sir John was unable to stand or walk on his own and that the Cabinet would select a new prime minister to lead the Caribbean nation.

Compton, however, returned to St Lucia on May 19 and temporarily resumed power in early June to oversee a cabinet reshuffle, in which he remained prime minister but gave up the finance portfolio to the acting prime minister Stephenson King.

In late July, it was announced that Compton would resign by the end of 2007, but on August 26, the St Lucian leader was again admitted to hospital because he was having trouble breathing, and while there it was learned that he had suffered another stroke while recovering from the previous strokes.
Sir John Melvin Compton led the small island to independence from Britain in 1979. He governed St Lucia for 29 years, first from 1964 to 1979 and from 1982 to 1996.

He was regarded as a vocal champion of the cause of the impoverished working class, particularly sugar plantation workers.
He has been credited with propelling St Lucia into modernity with major reconstruction of its social and economic base and was an unwavering supporter of Caribbean unity, participating in many of the institutions that gave birth to Caricom.

He also played a role in the establishment of the Caribbean Development Bank, the West Indies Association States Council of Ministers, the Eastern Caribbean Common Market, and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States.

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