CELEBRATED Caribbean journalist Rickey Singh died on Saturday at his home in his adopted country of Barbados after a long illness. He was 88.

Singh will be remembered for his many fights with Caribbean leaders on behalf of regional journalists, which forced him to move from his native Guyana to Trinidad and Tobago, and eventually to Barbados where he spent his final days.

Singh contributed to several wire services and publications in the region, the BBC Caribbean Report and Caribbean News Agency (CANA), as well as services in North America and Britain.

Veteran journalist Desmond Allen, who edited Singh’s work at the Jamaica Observer, said of his departed colleague: “Truly, here was a journalist who loved his craft and his Caribbean people whom he served to the end. He defended freedom of journalists to his last breath.”

Singh, who founded the now-defunct Caribbean Association of Media Workers (CAMWORK), was a recipient of an honorary doctorate from The University of the West Indies for his contributions as a journalist on regional affairs.