Emer­i­tus Pro­fes­sor John Agard, one of the Caribbean’s most in­flu­en­tial en­vi­ron­men­tal sci­en­tists and cli­mate change ad­vo­cates, has died at the age of 71.

The an­nounce­ment was made yes­ter­day by The Uni­ver­si­ty of the West In­dies, which said Agard died on June 19.

In a trib­ute, St Au­gus­tine Cam­pus Prin­ci­pal Rose-Marie Belle An­toine de­scribed him as “a bril­liant, in­no­v­a­tive, en­ter­pris­ing per­son who gave so much to The UWI, his com­mu­ni­ty and be­yond.”