I knew Warren Smith from his days at LIAT in Antigua and Barbuda through to his later service at the Caribbean Development Bank. Across those roles, and across those years, one thing never changed: He was a gentleman.

Warm in personality, respectful in manner, and thoughtful in engagement, Warren Smith had a rare ability to explain complex development issues without condescension or defensiveness. Journalists were not treated as adversaries or inconveniences but as partners in the task of telling the development story, carefully, responsibly, and with context. That quality alone placed him firmly within a special tradition of Caribbean public service.

Warren Smith, former president of the Caribbean Development Bank, former chief executive officer of LIAT, and a senior Jamaican civil servant, belongs to a long and distinguished line of Caribbean public servants who have laboured quietly in the vineyard of regional integration since at least the 1940s. They were never seekers of applause. They did not crave the plaudits that politicians often attract. Yet their work has been foundational to the survival and steady advancement of the Caribbean project.

They may not have been household names but their decisions had a critical and lasting impact on Caribbean households. Choices made quietly in boardrooms, ministries, and regional institutions shaped livelihoods, preserved transport links, financed development, stabilised economies, and helped small societies weather repeated shocks. The benefits were rarely dramatic or headline-grabbing, but they were real, felt in jobs protected, services sustained, opportunities created, and dignity maintained.

A closer look at this pantheon reveals several shared and distinguishing characteristics. Chief among them was respect, extended equally to the powerful and the powerless. They were generous with their knowledge and experience, brutally honest without being offensive, and quietly committed champions of the disadvantaged. They carried no airs. Many rose to the highest offices without partisan sponsorship, guided instead by competence, credibility, and trust.

These guardians of the regional system rarely defended themselves in public. More often, they absorbed unfair criticism with restraint, understanding it as part of the burden of leadership. In doing so they shielded the institutions they led and the people they served from the full force of political and public onslaught. Their loyalty was to the mission, not to personal reputation.

Warren Smith embodied this tradition. At LIAT, he worked in an environment where regional aviation was often criticised but rarely understood. At the Caribbean Development Bank he presided over a complex development agenda that demanded balance, patience, and long-term thinking. In both spaces, he brought calm authority and a deep sense of stewardship.

For those of us in the media, he was a reminder that transparency and respect are not weaknesses in leadership, but strengths. He understood that development is not only about finance and policy, but about communication, about helping Caribbean people understand the choices being made in their name.

Those who now occupy the commanding heights of regional institutions would do well to study the records of these Caribbean giants, not as nostalgia, but as guidance. Their example remains a source of reassurance and support as the integration movement faces new pressures and renewed scrutiny.

Today, we add Warren Smith to that roll call with respect, gratitude, and a clear understanding of the legacy he leaves behind.

As we reflect on Warren Smith’s life and work, it is worth pausing to acknowledge how many others have served in similar fashion — quietly, competently, and with integrity — across our regional institutions, public services, and development agencies.

These individuals rarely seek recognition, yet their influence is woven into the everyday functioning of Caribbean life. If this tribute prompts readers to recall a public servant, regional official, or institutional leader who worked in that same spirit of respect, generosity, and restraint, then it will have served its purpose.

The Caribbean project has always depended on such people.

Julian Rogers, MBE

julian@caribbeanbridges.com

www.caribbeanbridges.substackcom