John Spence (scientist)
John Arnott Spence (15 July 1929 – 6 March 2013) was a scientist, educator, and independent politician from Trinidad and Tobago. He was born in Saint Vincent and moved to Trinidad at age 11. He studied at Queen’s Royal College, earned a BSc in botany from the University of Bristol in 1951, a diploma in Agricultural Science from Cambridge in 1952, and a Tropical Agriculture diploma from the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in Trinidad in 1953. He completed his PhD at Bristol in 1961.
Spence led the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of the West Indies, Saint Augustine, until 1989. He then headed the Cocoa Research Unit (CRU) and helped grow it into an internationally recognized center. In botany, he showed how the enzyme polyphenol oxidase helps cocoa pods resist the disease black pod, caused by Phytophthora palmivora. He also developed dwarf pigeon pea varieties that can be harvested by machine.
He served as an independent Senator in Trinidad and Tobago from 1987 to 2000. He received the Gold Chaconia Medal in 1980 and the NIHERST Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000, and he became a fellow of the Caribbean Academy of Science in 1990.
Spence died of a heart attack on 6 March 2013, at age 83. He was survived by his wife Yolande and their three sons: John Malcolm Spence, Louis Spence, and Richard Spence. His funeral was held at the University of the West Indies Sports and Education Centre in St Augustine.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 20:51 (CET).