Dennis Hilary Gouveia

Gouveia, 66, also served as First Secretary at Guyana’s Embassies in Washington and Moscow between the late 1976 and 1982 before he resigned in 1988.

He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1974, three years after returning home with a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Sociology from the University of Missouri in the United States.

Gouveia also served as the Director of Administration at Guyana Natural Resources Agency (GNRA) and worked in the Ministry of National Development between 19971-1974 upon his return from his four-year scholarship in the U.S.

Gouveia, who hails from Grant Buxton, Pomeroon, was also an avid sportsman, having represented Essequibo at inter-county cricket and also teamed up with James Henry to rule the over-35 doubles tennis in Guyana for a number of years.

He started his career in teaching at the tender age of 15 at Charity Government School and later attended Teachers’ Training College.

At the time of his death he was a schoolteacher in Toronto, Canada.

Gouveia underwent a lung transplant a year ago and was on life support machine for the past 16 days.

Gouveia passed away at 4:05 pm yesterday in a Toronto Hospital.

He leaves to mourn his wife Cicely, children Sean, a former badminton champion, daughters Nadia and Cindy, and grandson, Mikhail.

He will be buried in Canada where he migrated with his family in 1990.