Nicholas E.A. Rampersad Tribute

BY A STRANGE twist of fate, Nicholas Edmond Avinash Rampersad, 24, of Exchange Lots, Couva, an attorney by profession, died in a vehicular accident on May 20, near the Divali Nagar site, on the Uriah Butler Highway on the south bound lane. His passing was similar to the death of his father Dr Edmond Rampersad on December 13, 1992, along the link road between Couva and Carapichaima, and not far from his home — one of Caroni (1975) Limited’s quarters.

Nicholas graduated from the Law School in 2004 and was attached to the law firm of Fitzwilliam, Stone, Furness Smith and Morgan. His brother, Marcus Rampersad, a student at the Mt Hope Medical School, did the eulogy at the Balmain Presbyter-ian Church on Wednesday where the funeral service was held, with former Senator Rev Daniel Teelucksingh conducting the service, and with reflections coming from Douglas Mendes, SC, Colin Kangaloo, and a group of fellow workers, as well as a piano piece by Gloria Barry and the rendition of “Wind Beneath my Wings,” by Sharlene Gore.

This is the eulogy read by his brother, Marcus Rampersad:

My brother, Nicholas Edmond Avinash Rampersad was born on July 30, 1981, to the late Dr Edmond Rampersad and Vidya Rampersad. And though he arrived in this world four years before me I had become quite well acquainted with all of his many quirks of early childhood by means of the shared memories of our mother.

Among his first spoken word was “light” and this can easily be considered symbolic of the impact he had on our lives. Simply put, it was impossible not to smile in his company. Whether it was his charisma, optimism, humour, willingness and ability to help or simply his loyal presence itself, Nick was an expert at bringing joy and happiness to a person’s life. In this way as I am certain my mother and Uncle Dass will agree, he was indeed somewhat like “Jolly Old St Nick” himself.

As a child and as an adult he was never one to sit still, and I am not just referring to his perpetually shaking leg. According to my mother her only time for rest, when he was a toddler, coincided with him falling asleep.

But before he could sleep a wink there was the urgent stack of picture books to be read to him by our mother, piled high in his arms, night after night, Incidentally 20 years later Nicholas was known to leave the law firm with a similarly urgent stack of documents to be dealt with before bed time. Some things never change.

He loved music of all kinds and he learnt to play a number of instruments including the recorder, tenor steel pan, flute, and of course the piano which he continued to learn and master playing until Grade 7.

He was so adept at playing music that he was asked to play in several concerts as a child and as a teenager. He even played at the prestigious Queen’s Hall before the age of ten. He never stopped reading, which had become his favourite pastime.

Sometimes as a child I played by myself while Nicholas locked himself up in a room and read for hours on end. Suffice it to say, it was never a wise idea to surprise him with a book as a present for he would probably have read it already.

We swam together for more than a decade at the Sevilla Club swimming pool where we made many life-long friendships.

He might have offended many at times with his impeccable manners and his absolute neglect for utilising the local dialect during conversation periods.

He played video games as a hobby and enjoyed playing with me as this forced our separate imaginations to become one. He liked wrestling games in particular those which allowed him to design and create his own characters.

He had fun designing them to represent people he knew sometimes in flattering fashion and sometimes not.

For all his life Nick was quite an actor. He participated in numerous skits during his childhood, and as an adult this would also become a professional pastime.

At the Hugh Wooding Law School he received a standing ovation for his portrayal of a sneaky lawyer during the Divali Play and also for his prominent role during the Christmas play.

The peak of my pride for him however, was his involvement with “Lawyers Under Lights,” — a solid proof of his talent as an actor. He played the role of the Angel Gabriel so flawlessly that he received another standing ovation and more importantly, earned the genuine respect of his professional acting peers who had subsequently approached him about acting at future concerts on a more regular basis.

He was a tremendously helpful person and he had also become a brilliant teacher. No task was ever unimportant for him if it could ease the burden for someone else.

Furthermore as long as he learnt something his immediate thought was to pass the knowledge on to someone else and he had the gift of so doing in the simplest manner imaginable.

He so desired to become a lecturer at UWI one day and I have no doubt that this was suited to him judging by the high regard in which he was held by his students at the private Law School of Mr Keith Beckles.

My brother was also the most selfless person that I have known. His family and friends always took precedence over himself without exception.

From High School to Law School to Corporate firm, Nicholas would always prefer to satisfy the needs and wants of our mother, grandmother, and I before considering his own.

And it was never a secret. All of his friends and colleagues were quite aware of his special, close relationship with mom and me.

He spoke about us so often and at such great length that his peers felt as if they had known us themselves for years and had arrived at their own conclusions concerning our personalities and behaviour along the way. As a result any of his closest friends could describe me better than I could have hoped to describe myself.

Among the flattering adjectives I would use to describe Nicholas was the word success for it was a fact that he excelled at everything he set his mind to.

He graduated with Upper Second Class Honours for his LLB Degree and then went on to place in the top three of the entire class at the Hugh Wooding Law School, winning the Principal’s Award for Advocacy, and was an integral member of the trio that contested and won the Regional Mooting Competition hosted in Jamaica.

He was accepted by every law firm or Chambers that he applied to, eventually opting to work as an Associate in the Department of Litigation at Fitzwilliam, Stone, Furness-Smith and Morgan, the top Corporate firm in the country.

He even represented our country at a Mock Parliamentary Debate in Bermuda, where he was elected Opposition Leader, and he ultimately led his team to victory.

We all knew that no goal could ever have been beyond his reach and it was just a matter of time before Nicholas would have been appointed a Senior Counsel or called to the Bench.