Marcel Crawford, Berbice lawyer, horse racing enthusiast, dies

Dec 28, 2013 Sports

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Senior Counsel, veteran horse racing enthusiast, community leader, former national cycling champion and sports enthusiast Marcel Crawford has died.

The country is now poorer with the sudden demise of Marcel Christopher Crawford.
Born to Ryan Crawford, a Scotsman, and Sarah Millicent Harrington, he was the second of seven children and the older of two boys. Born on October 13, 1937, at Salton Village (Little Alness) on the Corentyne, he resided at Alness, one village away from his birthplace.
Marcel Crawford was a household name in Berbice, Guyana and the wider Caribbean for many reasons and his success is attributed to hard work and many sacrifices.
He rose to the rank of a Senior Counsel and at the time of his demise was the only one in the Ancient County which in itself is an extraordinary achievement. Couple that with being a former national cycling champion and multitalented sports personality  and living a life as a horse racing magnate and pace setter, and you get the picture.
He was married to the late Lillian Crawford nee Sooklall, a union that bore them two sons – Marcel Jr., who resides in the United States, and Ryan, who is also a lawyer and straddles between Guyana and the United States, where he practices.
Marcel Crawford was a high flyer at school. He first attended St. Marks Anglican School in Alness, before going on to the Rose Hall Scots and Corentyne High. He began his work career as a teacher at the Kildonan Scots School on the Corentyne.
Crawford is particularly proud of his days at Rose Hall Scots, a school which produced an Executive President (the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan), two senior counsel, in himself and Clarence Hughes, and a Chancellor of the Judiciary, Madam Justice Desiree Bernard.
At school, apart from being in the top echelons of his class in academic performance he participated in almost all the games available, with success. He chose cycling as a launching pad and dominated the sport in a few years. He left school in 1956 and by 1960 was selected in the squad to represent Guyana at the Rome Olympics.
After leaving school he taught for a bit. However, when the time came for the team to leave he was told by the Amateur Athletics Association (AAA) and the Cycling Union that they had no money and thus he would be unable to participate.
That experience changed him and in frustration he quit the sport and set sail to England in August 1960, to further his educational career. After leaving school he taught a bit whilst pursuing his cycling career.
He initially wanted to pursue medicine and enrolled at Westminster College in London. He recalled being intensely homesick.
Crawford later met longtime pal and former Chancellor of the Judiciary, Cecil Kennard, with whom he taught and who was studying in England at the time. Kennard encouraged him to stay on and switch to Law. He took the timely advice, and the rest was history.
In April 11, 1961 he enrolled to read law at the famous Lincoln Inn in London. On June 24, 1964 he was admitted to the bar in England. In the same year 1964 that he returned to the Caribbean to practise, stopping first in Trinidad and then later in the same year he returned to Guyana and was admitted to practise. During his stay in England he journeyed to Scotland in search of his relatives. He found some of them in Edinburgh. Horse racing was so much in his blood that during his time overseas he participated in horse racing and dog racing.

Mr. Crawford’s work as an attorney was so outstanding that he was given numerous offers to work in various parts of the Caribbean and areas of the Government. He was asked to serve as a Magistrate, Judge, Attorney General, but refused, because he wanted to remain simple. He however performed duties as State Counsel and also served as Police Legal advisor.
He worked among many legal luminaries including Rex Mc Kay, Clarence Hughes, Keith Massiah, Donald Trotman, Charles Ramson, Doodnauth Singh, Winston Pompey and Bernard De Santos among others.
During his time he carved out an outstanding pathway in the courts and performed in many memorable and outstanding matters. A listing of his outstanding performances will fill a few pages
For his exemplary and outstanding performance he was made a Senior Counsel in 1991. At the time of his death he was the only Senior Counsel in Berbice. He was one of four at one time – the others were Stanley Hardyal, Bhairo Prashad and Milton Persaud. At the time of his death he was still into active practice.
His family established their own facility, the Alness Race Track, now, the Ryan Crawford Memorial Turf Club and Sport Facility (RCMTC&SF) in 1975.
He died not seeing one of his dreams fulfilled in seeing the liberalization of the horses racing sector and the passage of the horse racing legislation
It is understood that he suffered a heart attack on Christmas Day at home. He was rushed to the Anamayah Hospital on the Corentyne where he died.

 

 

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