Former Barbados-born educator dies in Toronto at 63

Former Barbados-born educator Alexander Waithe who was diagonosed with pancreatic and liver cancer last December, died in Toronto at the home of his daughter, Alexandra, on January 31 last. He was 63.

Alexandra said that her father came to Canada as a teenager to finish his  high school education.He then went on to the University of Toronto where he graduated with a  Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education.

In 1976, he started teaching at a Catholic school in Toronto.He taught at several schools in the Greater Toronto Area before he retired in 2011.

Friends of the former educator recall that he was well known in  the Barbadian community in Toronto as a promoter of Caribbean music.

” He produced numerous  concerts, special events, festivals and  various  projects which featured top soca/calypso acts such as Red Plastic Bag, Grynner, Ras Iley, and many, many others,” Roger Gibbs, a close friend of Waithe, told the Caribbean Camera.

Gibbs said that since Waithe’s retirement, he had been spending his time between Toronto and Barbados.

He leaves four children -Alexandra, Julian, Andre De Grasse, Camadian Olympic sprinnt champion , and Dantee -and two grand-daughters, Liana and Yuri.

A celebration of life for the late Alexander Waithe will be held both in Toronto and Barbados on a date to be fixed.