Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
State funeral for President Arthur Chung
Guyana will be affording a state funeral for its first President, Arthur Chung, who died Monday at his home.
Expressing condolences yesterday at his office in New Garden Street, President Bharrat Jagdeo said that he will be speaking at the funeral service and his office has already spoken to the family.
Chung was 90 at the time of his death.
Chung, who served as President from March 17, 1970 to October 6, 1980, succumbed peacefully at home in his bed at around noon Monday.
He leaves to mourn his wife, Doreen, two children, Raymond and Diane, and five grandchildren. Chung was born on January 10, 1918 at Windsor Forest, West Coast Demerara, and was the first ethnic Chinese (Hakka) president in a non-Asian country.
He attended Windsor Forest and Blankenburg Primary Schools before he went to J. I. Ramphal’s Modern High School. In 1938, he graduated from the school and joined the staff of the Lands and Mines Department as an apprentice surveyor.
In May 1945, he left British Guiana after the Second World War to enter the Middle Temple of London.
In 1947, Chung qualified as a barrister and then worked as Assistant Legal Examiner with the British Civil Service.
He later joined the chambers of British lawyer Maurice Shear. He returned home in October 1948, when he was admitted to the local bar and practised as a lawyer until his appointment as Acting Magistrate in 1953. He was confirmed in the position one year later.
In 1960, he was designated a Senior Magistrate, and the following year he was designated Registrar of Deeds and of the Supreme Court.
In 1962, he was appointed a Puisne Judge, after which he became an Appellate Judge the following year.
In 1980, he was awarded the prestigious national award, the Order of Excellence. His wife, Doreen Chung, recalls the late President as an ardent family man despite his hectic professional life.
Chung served the state and people of Guyana from March 17, 1970 to October 6, 1980.
During his tenure, President Chung served with distinction during the period of the greatest post-independence transformation of Guyana, its society and economy.
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