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Pedro Welch has died (Extracted from Nationnews.com)
LONGSTANDING stalwart of the Opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP), Pedro Welch, is dead. He was 78.
His first son, Dr Pedro Welch Jnr., confirmed yesterday that Welch, who served for a record eight consecutive years as general secretary during the Errol Barrow years (1961-1987), passed away last Saturday about 5:15 a.m. at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) after a short illness.
Welch is survived by his wife, the former DLP MP and parliamentary secretary Maize Barker-Welch, who in 1986 became only the fifth woman elected to the House of Assembly, and three other children: Sonja, Yolande and Peter.
Born September 17, 1926, Welch received his early education at Bay Street Boys' School and then Boys' Foundation.
Welch entered the public service as a teacher for a short stint before joining the Colonial Labour Service – forerunner of the modern Labour Department – as a long-grade clerk. He rose through the ranks reaching the position of acting Labour Commissioner when he retired in 1966.
He thereafter joined the British telecommunications giant, Cable & Wireless, with the distinction of being the first black industrial relations advisor hired by the company in the Caribbean, before retiring in 1983.
Welch also served as chairman of both the Grantley Adams Memorial School and Ellerslie School.
In 2002, at the DLP's 47th annual conference, the then newly-elected president (now Leader of the Opposition) Clyde Mascoll announced the creation of the Pedro Welch Award in recognition of the work and contribution of one of the party's most committed members.
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