President Anthony Carmona joined hundreds of mourners yesterday in bidding farwell to his former colleague, retired deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Clyde Seepersad, remembering him as an excellent attorney and magistrate. Carmona paid tribute to Seepersad, who died on Saturday, during the funeral service at the Susamachar Presbyterian Church, San Fernando, yesterday.
Seepersad was the father of High Court judge Frank Seepersad. Reminiscing on his early days as an attorney in the DPP’s office, Carmona said Seepersad was the one person to welcome him with open arms. “When I started my professional life as a lawyer, the one person who welcomed me with open arms was Clyde and he did not do it in any kind of patronising manner.
“He did not do it in a way that made you feel uncomfortable. He was just being the person that he was,” Carmona said. Seepersad’s eldest son and namesake, Clyde Seepersad Jr, eulogised his father in a touching piece that left many in tears. He told mourners that his father’s love for law led him to the love of his life, his mother Champa.
He recalled the afternoons spent with his siblings and father, doing homework and studying at their Siparia home. “As soon as Panorama (news) was finished, he would take off the television and sit with us, working on his case files as we did our homework.
“When Frank and I were writing CAPE exams, he would wake up early every morning, so we could study with our minds fresh and then go outside with us to exercise and poor Andrew and Carol were forced to go along with us.” He also recalled many trips to the beach and family outings that his father orchestrated.
“Every weekend we would go out as a family, to the beach, on road trips, you name it, daddy always took the time for us to be together as a family,” he said. When he left the podium, Seepersad was overcome with tears and had to comforted by his youngest brother, Andrew. Seepersad was honoured in 2012 by the Law Association for 50 years in practice.
He was also a former director at State-owned oil company Petrotrin and a member of National Insurance Appeals Tribunal.