Former senator and attorney Surendranath Capildeo is dead.
Although relatives have kept the death within the family the T&T Guardian was told that Capildeo died at the age of 76.
There was no confirmation on whether he was ill and the exact date of his death was unclear.
He died earlier this month, the T&T Guardian learned.
Capildeo came from a long and illustrious line of politicians and attorneys. His uncle, Dr Rudranath Capildeo, was leader of the Democratic Labour Party which was the opposition party when the country gained independence in 1962.
His father was Simbhoonath Capildeo, a prominent politician and lawyer.
In 2012, as he received a posthumous award on behalf of his uncle, Capildeo said his uncle's major contribution was the hold the country together, "because if he had decided to run with the pack, we would not have had a country."
"This country," he said, "would have been racially divided forever but he (Rudranath) crossed that barrier with Eric Williams at Marlborough House."
Capildeo attained silk and was made a Senior Counsel under the People's Partnership government.
He held strong views on the issue of race and racism and openly showed his disenchantment with the way the politics in the country was going when in 2007 at an NCIC function he blasted political Hindus for what he called "their gross incompetence and total selfishness, weak leadership and political stupidity."
Capildeo is the cousin of Nobel Laureate VS Naipaul. His ancestral home is the Lion House on the Chaguanas Main Road.
He will be cremated today at Caroni Cremation Site at 10 am.