Matheson worked as an expert within the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and more recently was engaged in efforts to sustain ACP preferential access to EU markets for sugar and other commodities.

His participation in the lobby to forestall Brazil’s challenge to the EU-ACP Sugar Protocol was notable in this regard, a release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted yesterday.

Matheson was Director of the Economic Affairs Department within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for several years and attained the highest rank of the profession with his subsequent appointment as this country’s ambassador to Brussels.

Former foreign minister, Rashleigh Jackson, with whom Matheson worked closely, described him as a highly skilled and dedicated officer. He said that when Matheson was relieved of his post by then Foreign Minister, Clement Rohee, when the PPP/C took office in 1992, it was a great loss to the diplomatic service.

Jackson recalled that Matheson together with Dr Tyrone Ferguson, Dr Denis Benn, and David Hales constituted a formidable grouping representing Guyana’s economic interests.

He added that even after he left the diplomatic service, Matheson continued to represent Guyana’s interests through work with other agencies. And at the time of his death, he was the representative of Guysuco in London.

Dr Mark Kirton, the Dean of the Social Science Faculty at the University who was at Queen’s College with Matheson, described him as a man with a very incisive mind and a very strong professional.

He said Matheson applied academic rigour to all that he did, and contributed in a very significant way to Guyana’s foreign policy formulation and articulation during his time as Foreign Service Officer.

Matheson attended Queen’s College from 1960-1967 and McGill University in Canada from which he graduated with a Masters Degree in Economics. After leaving the Guyana Diplomatic Service, he read for his Ph.D in Economics at the London School of Economics.

He leaves to mourn his wife Susan, a barrister who practises in London, and two children - five and four-year-old girls.

A funeral service will be held in London tomorrow.