‘To Sir, With Love’ author E.R. Braithwaite dies at 104

Dec 14, 2016 News

Government has expressed condolences with the passing of the late educator, author and diplomat, Edward Ricardo Braithwaite (E.R. Braithwaite), CCH, who died on Monday, last, at a hospital in Maryland, United States of America.

Dead at 104: Educator, author and diplomat E.R. Braithwaite

President Granger, in a statement, said that Braithwaite was an eminent Guyanese and distinguished diplomat and extends condolences to his family at this time.
“Mr. Braithwaite lived a full and remarkable life, having authored ‘Choice of Straws’ (1965), ‘A Kind of Homecoming’ (1961), ‘Paid Servant’ (1962) and most famously, the 1959 ‘To Sir, With Love,’ which was made into the 1967 British hit film of the same title; starring Sidney Poitier and singer Lulu. Born in Georgetown on June 27, 1912, he attended the St. Ambrose Primary School in Alberttown, before moving on to Queen’s College, Guyana, and then the City College of New York (1940).
According to the Ministry of the Presidency statement, the author joined the Royal Air Force as a Pilot, during World War II, before leaving to attend the University of Cambridge (1949), where he earned a Master’s Degree in Physics.
Braithwaite later became a School Master in London, during the period 1950-1957, a Welfare Officer at the London County Council from 1958-1960 and a Human Rights Officer of World Veterans Federation from 1960 to 1963.
He was the first Guyanese to hold the post of Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) in 1967. This led, subsequently, to his election as President of the UN Council for South West Africa in 1968. He later served as Guyana’s Ambassador to Venezuela.
In 2012, as he celebrated his 100th birthday, he was bestowed with the Cacique Crown of Honour for his outstanding contribution in the field of literature and effective service as a diplomat.
“President Granger, on behalf of the Government and people of Guyana, extends heartfelt sympathy to his partner, Ms. Ginette Ast as well as other family members and friends of the late Mr. Edward Ricardo Braithwaite (E.R. Braithwaite), CCH even as the nation reflects, with gratitude on his contribution to the country.”
An Associated press report said that the Guyanese author, educator and diplomat whose years of teaching in the slums of London’s East End inspired the international best-seller “To Sir, With Love” and the popular Sidney Poitier movie of the same name, died at age 104.
Braithwaite’s companion, Ginette Ast, told The Associated Press that he became ill Monday and passed away at the Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville, Maryland.
He was regarded as an early and overlooked chronicler of Britain from a non-white’s perspective, his admirers including the authors Hanif Kureishi and Caryl Phillips.
“To Sir, With Love,” his first and most famous book, was published in 1959. The autobiographical tale about how a West Indian of patrician manner scolded, encouraged and befriended a rowdy, mostly white class of East End teens, who in turn softened him, was an immediate success and a natural for film. Poitier played Braithwaite (renamed Thackeray) in the 1967 release and the pop star Lulu was featured as one of the students. The title song, performed on screen and on record by Lulu, became a No. 1 hit.
Kaieteur News featured Mr. Braithwaite in a Special Person article (https://kaieteurnewsonline.com/2012/08/26/to-sir-with-love-author-e-r-braithwaite-is-a-special-person/) in August 2012. This publication joins the rest of Guyana in extending sincerest condolences to the partner, relatives and friends of the late, great son of the soil.

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