Herbert John Preudhomme was a Grenadian politician and former Deputy Prime Minister.

Early life

Herbert John Preudhomme was born in Grenada on 8 January 1930.

Career

Herbert Preudhomme, affectionately called “Uncle Pre”, served as Deputy Prime Minister in the Eric Gairy led Grenada United Labour Party (GULP) government that was deposed from power in a 1979 coup d’état.

Preudhomme first entered the House of Representatives after successfully contesting the St John seat in the 1961 election as a candidate for the GULP and was appointed Minister for Commerce, Industry and Tourism.  In the elections of 1962, he narrowly lost to Mc Donald Welsh of the Grenada National Party (GNP) by 41 votes. Preudhomme reclaimed the constituency seat in parliament in 1967 by defeating Mc Donald Welsh by 906 votes. He then was appointed Minister for Local Government, Housing, Labour, Youth Development and Sports. In 1972,

Preudhomme was victorious over John Branch of the GNP; and was appointed Minister of Communications, Works, and Labourin the Eric Gairy Administration.
He retained his seat in the 1976 election against Lloyd Noel of the New Jewel Movement (NJM).  He was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Housing.

After the 13 March 1979 Revolution he was, like most ministers, detained without charge from until 31 December 1981. After his release, he went into private business.

However, after democracy governance was restored to the island following the collapse of the revolution, he contested the 1984, 1990, and 1995 general elections for either the constituency of St John or the Town of St George as a member of the GULP and was defeated each time.

In May 1998, Herbert Preudhomme was elected leader of the bitterly divided GULP. 

Returning to the political arena in 2003, Preudhomme tried unsuccessfully to recapture the St. John seat as a GULP candidate, losing to Claris Charles of the New National Party (NNP).

He migrated to the USA to be near his family and to enjoy his retirement.

Personal life

Preudhomme was married to wife Joyce Elna Preudhomme for 65 years.  They were the parents of five children - Geoffrey Preudhomme, Jenny-Lyn Preudhomme-Cherman, Jacqueline Preudhomme (deceased), Gillian Preudhomme, and Wendy Preudhomme.

Death

Preudhomme, who was ailing for some time died in Florida, in the United States on Thursday, 2 January 2020 at the age of 89, six days before his 90th birthday. He died eight days after his wife Joyce passed away in the USA on Thursday, 26 December 2019 at the age of 84.