Op­po­si­tion Leader and Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les has paid trib­ute to Fer­die Fer­reira, de­scrib­ing his pass­ing as a “pro­found loss” for Trinidad and To­ba­go and the PNM.

In a so­cial me­dia post, Beck­les said she drew com­fort from Psalm 116:15: “Pre­cious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His faith­ful ser­vants.” She de­scribed Fer­reira as a life-long ser­vant of the coun­try, a man of in­tegri­ty and de­vo­tion, and praised his con­tri­bu­tions to pub­lic life.

Born in 1932, Fer­reira rose from hum­ble be­gin­nings on Dun­don­ald Street to be­come a found­ing mem­ber of the PNM. He served as Elec­tions Of­fi­cer and Labour Re­la­tions Of­fi­cer and was a trust­ed ad­vi­sor to Dr. Er­ic Williams and sub­se­quent par­ty lead­ers.