One of the Progressive Labour Party’s first candidates, Cecil V. Clarke, has died in Guyana, where he spent the final years of his life. He was 78.Mr Clarke was one of the original Members of the Colonial Parliament for the PLP following the party’s formation in 1963.A man who made friends on either side of the House, he was one of the last survivors of a group that included party leader Arnold Francis, and Dame Lois Browne-Evans.According to his son Keith, Mr Clarke passed away peacefully in the early hours of Sunday morning.His son recalled Mr Clarke as a complex character with an intense interest in black civil rights, as had his mother.“He spent a lot of time talking to us about Malcolm X, Dr Martin Luther King, and what slavery represented,” the younger Mr Clarke recalled. “He wanted us to be in touch with our roots.”He added: “More than anything, he loved to take us all out in the boat and go deep sea fishing out at the Banks, every weekend even. He was also notoriously lost at sea for two days.“Being out on the boat was his joy. He even built his first cabin-cruiser on our back lawn single-handedly”After attending boarding school in Europe, Mr Clarke studied at Morgan State University in Maryland, where he excelled as a varsity swimmer. He later turned to real estate and became committed to politics.“He was one of those first to come in under the party banner in 1963,” said Speaker of the House Stanley Lowe, who recalled Mr Clarke as “a very likeable and gregarious kind of person, easy to talk to and make friends with”.Initially from St George’s, Mr Clarke relocated his family to Warwick Park, Warwick, in the mid sixties. Mr Clarke represented the PLP in the constituency of Southampton East, and was among the PLP delegation that took part in the Bermuda Constitutional Conference in London in 1966.Politically moderate, Mr. Clarke served as an independent candidate after the party suffered “the first split”, Mr. Lowe recalled.He served the rest of his term until 1968.The son of Mrs E Trew Wright Robinson, former owner of Hillcrest Guest House in St. George’s and John Theophilus Clarke, QC of British Guiana, Mr Clarke was also the brother of former PLP MP Delaey Robinson, as well as John Clarke and Sonja T. Robinson.“I feel a little bit robbed of him,” Mr Robinson said. “I didn’t get enough of him, or much of a chance to compare notes on our PLP experiences. I was too young.”He characterised his brother as someone who garnered “respect from both sides”.“A lovely man,” former UBP MP Mr. Quinton Edness agreed. “He was a contemporary of mine, and not a man of political grudges. I just wish his family God’s comfort.”Environment Minister Walter Roban said Mr Clarke opted out of the PLP as a result of an internal dispute, but did not necessarily leave politics for good.“He was a President of the Leopard’s Club for many years,” Mr Roban said. “That club was quite a centre for black political discussion and dialogue.”About fifteen years ago, Mr. Clarke opted to live in Guyana, in part because it had been his father’s home and law practice base.He is survived by four children: Darrell, Rene, and Keith Clarke, and Mitzi Clarke-Williams.