Min­is­ter of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices, Sen­a­tor Don­na Cox, has de­scribed the late Dr Roy Cape as “a true mu­sic stal­wart”, as she of­fered her con­do­lences to his fam­i­ly and the mu­si­cal fra­ter­ni­ty on the na­tion­al icon’s pass­ing.

Dr Roy Cape had been bat­tling prostate can­cer for sev­er­al years and fi­nal­ly lost the war on Thurs­day (Sep­tem­ber 5, 2024) night at the age of 82 years. 

Trib­utes and con­do­lences con­tin­ue to pour in for the mu­si­cal gi­ant who was a re­cip­i­ent of the Hum­ming­bird Medal (Gold).

“Dr Cape, a re­cip­i­ent of the Hum­ming­bird Medal (Gold), was not on­ly a cel­e­brat­ed mu­si­cian but al­so a key fig­ure in the pro­mo­tion of so­ca and ca­lyp­so mu­sic in Trinidad and To­ba­go and in­ter­na­tion­al­ly,” Min­is­ter Cox said in a state­ment.

“Dr Cape's mu­sic, par­tic­u­lar­ly through his band, Roy Cape All Stars, and the un­mis­tak­able sound of his sax­o­phone,” she re­marked, “brought im­mense pride to our na­tion and gained in­ter­na­tion­al recog­ni­tion.”

She added: “I am con­fi­dent that his lega­cy, which spanned more than fifty years, will con­tin­ue to live on.”

Min­is­ter Cox point­ed to the Min­istry’s ini­tia­tives to sup­port na­tion­al icons such as the Spe­cial Achiev­ers Grant, of which Dr Cape was a re­cip­i­ent.

“His con­tri­bu­tions were rec­og­nized by the Min­istry through the Spe­cial Achiev­ers Grant, which pro­vides el­i­gi­ble na­tion­als with fi­nan­cial as­sis­tance in ac­knowl­edg­ment of their out­stand­ing ser­vice to na­tion­al de­vel­op­ment” Min­is­ter Cox said.

“The Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices joins the mu­sic and cul­tur­al fra­ter­ni­ty, as well as the en­tire na­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go, in ex­tend­ing our deep­est sym­pa­thies to the fam­i­ly, friends, and loved ones of the leg­endary mu­si­cian and cul­tur­al stal­wart, Dr Roy Fran­cis Cape,” she added.