Crispin Anselm Sorhaindo

Crispin Anselm Sorhaindo was the president of Dominica from October 1993 to October 1998. Born on May 23, 1931, in the village of Vieille Case, Sorhaindo attended the Vieille Case Government School and later Dominica Grammar School. Between 1956 and 1957, he attended Trinity College in Oxford, northwest of London, and the Royal Institute of Public Administration, London, from 1963 to 1964.

Prior to the establishment of the House of Assembly in Dominica, Sorhaindo worked as an executive and legislative clerk between 1950 and 1973. He was the secretary of the Civil Service Commission set up for the Proposed East Caribbean Federation in 1963, and attended a London conference in 1966 for the independence of Dominica.

Sorhaindo also worked in various government positions and represented Dominica in many conferences that led to the establishment of CARIFTA, CARICOM, OECS, the CDB, and the CCM among others. Between 1973 to 1988, he worked at the Caribbean Development Bank in Barbados as bank secretary, director, and vice-president.

Sorhaindo was elected Speaker of the House of Parliament in 1988 and served for four years until he was elected the president of the country in 1993. He served as the president of Dominica for a single term which ended in 1998.

He was a committed member of the Roman Catholic Church and served in various capacities. In 1993, Papal Rome honoured him as the Knight Commander of the Order of St. Sylvester; and Queen Elizabeth II awarded him the Order of the British Empire in 1969. The Dominican government gave him the Dominica Award of Honour in 2001 after he had earlier received the naval medal Almirante Luis Brion award in 1998 from the government of Venezuela.

President Crispin Sorhaindo had a prolonged battle with cancer and died on January 10, 2010. He left behind six children and wife Ruby Allport.