HE TOUCHED LIVES
A TRIBUTE TO FENRICK DE FOUR
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In recognition of honourable and dedicated service to his country and the
engineering profession, Fenrick De Four received a posthumous award of the
Chaconia Medal - Silver (Public Service/Engineering) at the National Awards
Ceremony 2004. He died on April 3rd 2004 but his legacy lives on.
He was man of bold vision who helped found institutions that
served the public interest, raised the standing of engineers in the public
eye and held the engineering profession to a high standard of professional
conduct and practice.
He was man of great kindness - who would visit a senior citizen and
fix the electrical wiring in his home. For almost 40 years, he visited
shut-in pensioners every week, taking gifts and personally helping with
minor repairs when necessary. When his children were younger, he often took
them with him on these visits to teach them the importance of helping the
less fortunate.
He was a leader in his profession - serving as Chairman of the Board
of Engineering of Trinidad and Tobago, the Association of Professional
Engineers of Trinidad and Tobago and the Association of Consulting Engineers
of Trinidad and Tobago as well as serving as a member of numerous other
Boards, Commissions and Committees.
He was a servant of the Church and the Community - helping SERVOL
with the management of its School in St Anns; serving as an active and
involved member of Opus Dei, St Vincent de Paul, the Rosary Church
Restoration Committee and a Catechism Group; delivering the Catholic News to
the church at Mission Village in Toco every week; and advising villagers in
Toco on development plans for the area.
He was a brilliant man of great accomplishment with a B.Sc. in
Electrical Engineering from Howard University, a Master of Civil Engineering
from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in New York and a Master of Science
in Engineering Mechanics from New York University. He was also a graduate of
the Harvard University Owner President Management Programme, owned his own
engineering consultancy firm, and helped write the building codes and
standards vital to the integrity and safety of the physical structures in
which we work and live.
He was a humble and generous man never boastful of his successes,
involving himself personally in helping the poor and willingly guaranteeing
loans to disadvantaged persons who needed help to start a business and
become self-sufficient even when he ended up having to repay the bank loan.
How many among us, when we are 78, will look back at our lives with quiet
pride that we made a difference and used our time and talents well?
How many lives have we touched?
Fenrick De Four was a quietly influential man and a caring soul who balanced
professional success with devotion to his wife and children while still
finding time to serve his country, his profession and his fellow man.
He is our own local role model who we can hold up to the young people in
society and say, unequivocally follow him, be like him.
Fenrick De Four left a legacy when he died on April 3rd, 2004 in the
institutions he founded and led, in the building codes he helped write, in
the engineering standards he upheld, in the lives he touched and in the life
he lived.
It is for all these reasons that the following organisations supported the
nomination of Fenrick De Four for a posthumous national medal.
Interim National Physical Planning Commission
Board of Engineering of Trinidad & Tobago
Trinidad & Tobago Group of Professional Associations
St Vincent De Paul Society
NIHERST - National Institute of Higher Education (Research, Science &
Technology)
The Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute
Accreditation Council of T&T Implementation Team
SERVOL (Cascade Life Centre)
Faculty of Engineering, UWI, St Augustine
Council of Caribbean Engineering Organisations
Association of Consulting Engineers
Trinidad & Tobago Bureau of Standards
Trinidad & Tobago Institute of Technology
National Training Agency
Association of Professional Engineers of Trinidad & Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago Institute of Architects
Board of Architecture of Trinidad & Tobago
Trinidad & Tobago Society of Planners
Trinidad & Tobago Contractors Association
Institute of Surveyors of T&T
Joint Consultative Council for the Construction Industry
