Sir Alister McIntyre, one of the best known Caribbean sons in academia and regional economic development, Friday marked his 75th birthday with warm greetings from a trio of the Caribbean Community’s very distinguished household names.

Sir Shridath Ramphal, former chairman of The West Indian Commission and secretary-general of the Commonwealth; Edwin Carrington, secretary-general of Caricom and Rex Nettleford, who had succeeded Sir Alister as vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies.

In the truest sense a “Caribbean man”, the Grenada-born economist, development planner, scholar and public servant has scored approximately 50 years of service to this region, as recalled Thursday by Ramphal, also a former chancellor of the University of the West Indies.

McIntyre had graduated with first-class honours from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1957, five years before Jamaica became the first English-speaking Caribbean country to shed the yoke of British colonialism.

He remained a permanent fixture in the rendering of distinguished contributions to the Caribbean in a multiplicity of capacities, at the regional and international level, until 1998 when he departed the UWI after serving as vice-chancellor for 10 years.

While McIntyre was maintaining a low profile and avoiding public comment on his birthday, McIntyre’s co-partners in regional public service were keen to reflect on his admirable contributions.

For example, his years as head of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); secretary-general of Caricom; vice chairman of the West Indian Commission, as well as his long years with the UWI.

Nettleford, in extending birthday greetings to McIntyre, hailed him as “arguably one of the Caricom region’s finest public servants”.

The UWI, added Nettleford, was lucky to have McIntyre give leadership to its modernising process and to set it on the path of 21st century existence.

“It was my good fortune to succeed him as vice-chancellor of the UWI, and I rejoice with him for being still able to bring to his region the special gifts of sanity, insight and foresight to the ongoing plan for his people’s growth and development,” said Nettleford.

Ramphal recalled that McIntyre’s service “of outstanding quality” has been sustained for a lifetime over a wide field of endeavours.

“The institutional tags tell a story of extraordinary achievement in leadership roles. But that is only part of the story,” he said. “Intellectual rigour, unswerving commitment and personal integrity were the hallmarks of the ‘McIntyre product’. He has been an adornment to the West Indies, and on this day he deserves of us all, applause and gratitude and good wishes.”

Carrington, in his tribute, said that “at a time when the region seems to be losing so many of its icons, it is reassuring to know that the iconic figure that is Alister McIntyre, my former professor and predecessor in office, my friend, is with us and in good shape”.