He has been described as an extraordinary individual , visionary entrepreneur, outstanding industrialist and a giant of a man. Lawrence Duprey, the former chairman of CL Financial (CLF) and the Colonial Life Insurance Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Clico), has died at the age of 89. He moved back to T&T from Miami with his wife Sylvia as his health deteriorated Sylvia and died at a health facility in Port-of-Spain yesterday evening.
Duprey’s empire, comprised some 65 companies in 32 countries,. He described his group of companies as being caught up in a perfect storm of economic collapse. The collapse not only affected Trinidad and Tobago’s economy by reverberations were felt across the region. The T&T government also had to inject huge sums to top up the starved Statutory Fund and meet the requirements of policyholders who had opted out of business with Clico and to avoid systemic financial shocks to the economy.
The assets of CLF were used as security for the injection by the state with the majority of the Government’s $30 billion bailout was spent on paying back policyholders of Clico and British American’s Executive Flexible Premium Annuity (EFPA), which was a facility created by Clico to raise money and bore an above-market, annual interest rate of ten per cent.
Upon hearing of the news of his passing, former finance minister Winston Dookeran, under whose tenure the Clico Investment Fund (CIF) was born said: “As we mourn the loss of Lawrence Duprey, we must be humbled, for he was indeed, perhaps the most visionary entrepreneur of our times. He was able to ‘idle’ resources into national prosperity, for which he faced obstacles and for which the T&T economy continues to benefit as it was the pillar of our success in building a diversified structure.
Former planning minister and former CLF director Dr Bhoe Tewarie said: “The loss of the Duprey Empire and Lawrence Duprey’s lonely end makes his passing very sad. He helped a lot of people in his lifetime and had a charitable heart. My condolences go out to Sylvia and his son, and to his genuine friends and family. He was a very complicated man with very big ideas, and he loved Trinidad and Tobago but understood its limitations, and he tried to find ways of circumventing them.
And also former chief executive of Angostura and former chief executive of the T&T Chamber Gabriel Faria added: “Lawrence Duprey was an extraordinary individual, whose journey was marked by remarkable achievements, resilience in the face of adversity, and an indomitable spirit that inspired us all. Lawrence was not just a business magnate; he was a visionary who saw possibilities where others saw obstacles.