Prime Minister David Thompson who died of pancreatic cancer during the early hours of Saturday, becomes the third Barbados head of government to die in office following Tom Adams in 1985 and his successor Errol Barrow two years later.

Thompson became the island’s sixth prime minister in 2008 after he led his Democratic Labour Party (DLP) to a convincing victory in the general election in January of that year.

But on May 14 this year, Barbadians got a first inkling that his health was deteriorating when, in the presence of his personal physician, Dr Richard Ishmael, he said that he had been suffering with stomach pains since early March.

On September 16, Dr. Ishmael would tell a stunned nation that tests done in the United States had confirmed that the Prime Minister was suffering from carcinoma of the pancreas, manifested in the form of a tumor of his pancreatic gland.

 “The usual treatment for this condition…entails the removal of the tumour and part of the pancreas, along with the intestine with re-implantation of the pancreatic duct into the small intestine,” Dr. Ishmael explained.

“However, because of the position of the tumour…surgery was not feasible and after consultations with three world renowned pancreatic surgeons it was decided that the best course of action was for him to undergo intense chemotherapy to try to shrink the tumour first to deliver its safe removal.”

Dr. Ishmael said the Prime Minister had been responding to the medication and treatments and Thompson himself had earlier told citizens that “it has been a rough time” and lamented the fact that he had been a way from Barbados for so long.

On his return to the island on August 29, Thompson issued a statement from his official residence saying that he was back at the head of government. The statement quoted him as saying that he was feeling fine and eager to get back to work.

But a few days later, the Prime Minister had developed “a complication which required me to travel back to New York.

“I think Barbadians would remember that I did indicate that the nature of my sickness would require me to travel to see the doctors here from time to time, but I don’t expect to be here long on this occasion all things being equal. But it was necessary for me to come back,” he said in a telephone link-up from New York.

A confident Thompson had also disagreed with suggestions that he should step down as head of the government.

“The people of Barbados elected me and I am not here to deal with that particular issue…but when I see Barbadians their first concern is for me to restore my health and that is what I have been focusing on.

“In the circumstances I believe that should I need to take any course of action that would be in the course of the country that I love I will take that course of action. At the same time one does not want to unsettle the social, political or economic environment and therefore don’t get excited about those things as yet,” he added.

“I will in my circumstances do my best, but all this at the end of the day depends on the grace of God,” the Prime Minister said.

Dr. Ishmael said that the intense chemotherapy had caused Thompson to lose considerable weight; left him feeling tired at times and in need of rest more than usual to regain his strength, but he was still able to carry out his job.

“His brain and intellect are sharp as ever and from a medical standpoint there is no reason why he cannot continue to perform his duties as prime minister, albeit at a reduced pace,” Dr. Ishmael said.

The announcement of his death comes less than a month after a September 30 radio broadcast in which he said that his “greatest wish” for Barbados at this time is for all citizens to use “adversity to refocus our energies on what’s best for Barbados and that we wrap our actions and our utterances in the national flag and the furtherance of this great nation we call home.

“That’s my challenge to you. Unite and love,” he said, noting “if we can unite first and foremost as sons and daughters of these fields and hills we call our very own, nothing will hold us back. We did it in the 60s and 70s, and we make no wanton boast of what we can achieve”.

He had re-shuffled his Cabinet because of the strain the cancer had taken on his personal health and in his last broadcast said he had purposely decided against appearing on television because the “nature of my medical treatment has occasioned obvious weight loss.

“I would rather that you get the portent of my message rather than the picture; and be concerned about the message, not the medium,” he added.

Political scientist Dr. George Belle said that the speech highlighted the fact that the Prime Minister’s main concern is restoring stability in what has been deemed a period of uncertainty inside and external to the party. 

“So that he is telling you to be calm, to be united, in the circumstances try to be stable and I will do what I can to facilitate that stability and therefore he intervenes in the way he has,” Belle said

David John Howard Thompson was born in London on Christmas Day in 1961. His father, Charles was a painter and his mother, Margaret a nurse. He was the third of six children, all boys, brought up at Fitts Village in St. James.

He received his primary teaching at the St. Gabriel’s Junior School before proceeding to Combermere School for his secondary education. It was while at Combermere that he developed and displayed his considerable intellectual capacity and prowess. It was also there that he excelled in the cut and thrust of debate and public speaking.

Indeed, he came to prominence and public attention as the leading panelist for his alma mater, in the then popular secondary schools’ television debates – Understanding. On that programme, he exhibited much wit, erudition and sagacity, as he made his mark as one well versed and knowledgeable with a high degree of confidence, a level of maturity and a grasp of topical issues that belied his youthfulness.

That forum, and his active membership of the youth arm of the DLP, the Young Democrats, (he served as President between 1980 and 1982), virtually catapulted the then precocious youth into the national limelight and he was seen as a future leader.

Thompson completed his secondary schooling at Combermere, securing a Barbados Exhibition in 1979. He taught at his alma mater for a year before entering the Law Faculty of the University of the West Indies (UWI), graduating with honours in 1984.

He then travelled to Trinidad where he completed his studies at the Legal Education Certificate at the Hugh Wooding Law School.

Upon his graduation he joined the Trident Chambers law firm where he rubbed shoulders with some of the other legal luminaries of that era including  Queen Counsels Asquith Phillips, George Moe, Carol Fields  and and Philip Greaves.

Between 1986 and 1988, he served as a part-time tutor in law at the UWI.

The 48-year-old attorney began his political career in 1987 when he won the rural St. John seat in a by-election following the death of Prime Minister Errol Walton Barrow.  Thompson represented his St. John constituency until his death.

Thompson served as Minister of Community Development and Culture in 1991, and a year later was appointed as Minister of State with responsibility for finance before becoming Minister of Finance in 1993.

In 1994 he became leader of the DLP in 1994, after Prime Minister Sir Lloyd Sandiford lost a no-confidence motion. But Thompson led the DLP to defeat in the 1994 and 1999 general elections and in 2001 resigned as leader of the party after it suffered a defeat in the St Thomas by-election.  But four years later he returned to the party’s top position after replacing Clyde Mascoll who had earlier switched political allegiance joining the then ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP).

When the full extent of his illness was made public, then Opposition Leader Mia Motley in an immediate reaction said she was “truly very sorry to have heard of the Prime Minister’s condition.

“There will be times in the life of a nation when circumstances or events have the power to bring out the best in us all. This is one such time,” she said, adding “.we must always remember that our humanity at the end of the day is more important than anything that divides us”.

Thompson is survived by his mom and dad, his wife, Mara, and their three children, Osa Marie, Misha and Oya as well as his five brothers.