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Bio Eric Matthew Gairy son of Douglas and Theresa Gairy was born in the parish of St Andrews Grenada on February 18, 1922. Eric Matthew Gairy received his early education at the St. Mary's RC School in La Fillette and the St Andrew's RC School in Grenville. After Graduating from St. Mary's RC School in La Fillette Eric Matthew Gairy continued at the St. Mary's RC School as a teacher for a short while. Gairy then Migrated to Aruba in 1943 where he worked with the Lago Oil Company. While in Aruba Eric Matthew Gairy took some correspondence courses studying Law. In Aruba Gairy , played a vital role seeking increased wages for his fellow workers in the Lago Oil Company. Gairy abandoned his Laws studies and returned to Grenada in 1948. After returning to Grenada Gairy Married to Cynthia Clyne and later had two children. Marcelle and Jennifer Gairy. In 1950, at the age of 28, Gairy, who had been knocking around the Caribbean looking for work, decided to lay down his bucket in Grenada, making the one critical move that would irrevocably change his life. Gairy organized a bunch of disgruntled agricultural workers in Grenada into a new trade union he founded, the Grenada Manual and Mental Workers Trade Union. By 1951, he had become a working class hero when he successfully organized an island-wide strike. This led to his winning a seat in the General Election that same year as leader of the Grenada United Labour Party (GULP) which he also founded. It was the beginning of the Gairy legend - "Gairyism" or Gairy Rights as they called it in Grenada By 1961, Gairy was the Chief Minister and Minister of Finance in Grenada. However Grenada was still a colony of the British Government and was forced to suspend the constitution when it discovered massive Government corruption - that came to be known as "Squandermania". Gairy retained his seat in 1962, although his party did not win the election. In 1967,Gairy regained power, sweeping aside Herbert Blaize's, Grenada National Party (GNP). His wife Cynthia Gairy , was also elected and she was given a Cabinet portfolio. His party won again in 1972 but his highhandedness, quixotic actions and maladministration aggravated his detractors, including a group of young agitators, the New Jewel Movement (NJM) led by British-trained lawyer Maurice Bishop. The British Government decided to grant Grenada independence on February 7, 1974. Gairy met the biggest challenge of his political career when the opposition parties, the trade unions, the Chamber of Commerce and community organizations in an unprecedented show of unity against his government shut down the country on the days prior to Independence Day, February 7, 1974. Gairy, the showman, perhaps, saw opportunity in such unwelcome attention by the international press and was always available for interviews and press conferences, impressing journalists at his adroitness to field difficult questions and amusing them with his unabashed obsession with UFOs. In the 1976 general election, Gairy lost some ground to the alliance of the GNP and the NJM but retained power. By March 1979, a misguided NJM felt that extra-constitutional methods were needed to rid Grenada of the scourge of Gairyism. Gairy fled to the United States, returning in 1984, a few months after the Bishop regime self-destructed. Gairy died on 8/23/97. In the last few weeks before his death, the Grenada High Court determined that Sir Eric Matthew Gairy, the man who literally bullied Grenada into Independence 23 years ago, was incapable of managing his own affairs. Debilitated by blindness and a stroke, the once flamboyant Sir Eric, 75, had literally gone mad, apparently, believing that he was still prime minister. One of his doctors, Dr Barry Rapier, said that Gairy's mental state had "deteriorated significantly since I saw him three months ago… he believes he is still prime minister of Grenada and often issues instructions to call Cabinet meetings". On June 19, High Court Judge Lyle St Paul gave control of his estate to his two daughters, Jennifer and Marcelle Gairy. The Grenada Government has indicated that Sir Eric Matthew Gairy will be treated in death as a national hero by being accorded a state funeral

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