Barbados mourns the passing of Prime Minister David Thompson

The  Prime Minister of Barbados, David John Howard Thompson is dead.
Early Saturday morning, the government  announced the death of the 48 year old Prime Minister who succumbed to pancreatic cancer .
He is the the third Prime Minister to die in office following Tom Adams in 1985 and his successor Errol Barrow two years later.

Earlier this year, the Prime Minister revealed to the nation that he was suffering from stomach pains and on September 16 his personal physical told Barbadians that the Prime Minister was being treated for pancreatic cancer.
Late in September, Prime Minister Thompson in an address to the nation announced a Cabinet reshuffle and then gave  up most of his responsibilities to other ministers, including passing over the portfolio of Finance to Chris Sinckler.
David  Thompson was sworn in as Barbados’ sixth Prime Minister on January 16,  after his Democratic Labour Party romped to an emphatic victory in the Barbados general election.
 
Thompson,  an attorney at law, began his political career in 1987 when he won the rural St. John seat in a by-election on the occasion of the death of Prime Minister Errol Walton Barrow. In 1994,  Thompson became leader of the DLP in 1994, after Prime Minister Sir Lloyd Sandiford lost a no-confidence motion.
 
After taking over the helm of the DLP, the party was defeated in two general elections  - in 1994 and 1999. The DLP received another blow when in 2001 the party suffered a defeat in a by-election in the parish of St Thomas. In the aftermath, Thompson resigned as leader of the party but four years later he returned to the top job after replacing   Clyde Mascoll who switched political allegiance.

He leaves to mourn his widow Mara, and three daughters.