Guyanese Author of To Sir, With Love, Dies Aged 104

ER Braithwaite, the Guyanese author of To Sir, With Love, and former Royal Air Force pilot has died at his home in Maryland, America at the age of 104.

Mr. Braithwaite’s companion, Genevieve Ast, confirmed his death to The Associated Press.

Born in Guyana on 27 June 1912, Eustace Edward Ricardo Braithwaite was the child of privileged parents, both graduates of Oxford University. His father was a diamond miner while his mother raised the family. During the second world war, he joined the Royal Air Force to fight as a pilot before going on to Cambridge to read physics. His New York Times obituary reads.

His autobiographical novel To Sir With Love written in 1959 was later adapted into a film of the same name starring Sidney Poitier.

Mr. Braithwaite, who became a diplomat and represented Guyana at the United Nations and in Venezuela, wrote several books, many about racism in countries like South Africa and the United States, where he lived much of his life. But he is best known for “To Sir, With Love”

To Sir, With Love has been hailed as a seminal work for immigrants from the colonies to postwar Britain.

After teaching, Braithwaite moved to social work, finding foster homes for children of colour. This formed the basis of for his 1962 book Paid Servant: A Report About Welfare Work in London. He went on to write a further nine books, a mix of novels, short-story collections and memoir.

Schooled in Guyana, the United States, and Britain, Mr. Braithwaite wrote several fiction and nonfiction books, often focusing on racism and class and the contrast between the cultures in developed countries and post-colonial ones

Mr. Braithwaite also served in the 1960s as the newly independent Guyana’s first representative at the United Nations and later was ambassador to Venezuela. Upon his 100th birthday, he received an honorary medal from his native country for lifetime achievement.