Profiles: Heroes, Role Models and Pioneers of Trinidad and Tobago - by Nasser Khan

21 STEPHEN BENNETT (1922-2011) A veterinarian, he is recognised for his developing the meat and milk producing buffalo named the buffalypso, and in local horse racing. Dr Bennett was the son of Oliver “Penlyn” (O. P. Bennett, of horse racing fame also). He was awarded the Chaconia Medal Silver in 1984. FRANCIS COPE (1913 -2004) E ngland-born, Francis Cope is noted for his work in the 1950s on the breeding of cocoa plants and for his training of cocoa planters in T&T and throughout the Caribbean.  His discoveries led to improved breeding techniques, which increased crop yields and helped to advance the cocoa industry worldwide. He received his Master of Science (MSc) in Botany from the University of London in 1945 and represented the Caribbean at the world’s first Cocoa Conference in London that same year. Cope started his career in 1936 as a junior botanist for cocoa research at the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (ICTA) in Trinidad. By 1962 he was teaching plant breeding and the botany of tropical crops at the Faculty of Agriculture, UWI. Generations of plant breeders were introduced to the subject and trained by him. At UWI he edited the Tropical Agriculture journal for many years.  He was appointed Professor of Botany and was the first Head of the Department of Biological Sciences.  When he retired in 1973, he was given the title of Professor Emeritus.