{"id":354775,"date":"2026-01-06T15:29:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T19:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?p=354775"},"modified":"2026-01-06T15:29:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T19:29:51","slug":"today-marks-the-anniversary-of-the-death-of-former-prime-minister-pierre-charles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/today-marks-the-anniversary-of-the-death-of-former-prime-minister-pierre-charles\/","title":{"rendered":"Today marks the anniversary of the death of former Prime Minister Pierre Charles"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Pierre Charles<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today, January 6, marks the Anniversary of the death of Pierre Charles, who served as Dominica\u2019s Prime Minister from 2000 to 2004.<\/p>\n

Charles was a Member of Parliament for Grand Bay from 1985 until his death.<\/p>\n

Charles died on the evening of January 6, 2004, following a cabinet meeting. He had been suffering from a heart condition and had complained of chest pains.<\/p>\n

He was the second prime minister to die in office in three years, having taken over the reins of power after the sudden death of Prime Minister Roosevelt Douglas in 2000.<\/p>\n

The late prime minister served as Minister of Communications and Works in the Roosevelt Douglas-led cabinet, and deputy leader of the Dominica Labour Party (DLP).<\/p>\n

He was born in Grand Bay and began his high school education at the Dominica Grammar School. He went to the\u00a0 St. Mary\u2019s Academy before continuing his studies at the teacher\u2019s college. Following which, he served as a teacher and community organizer before entering politics.<\/p>\n

In 1979, at 25, Pierre was appointed a Senator in parliament.<\/p>\n

In 1985, he contested the general elections on a Dominica Labour Party (DLP) ticket and won, although the DLP lost the election to the Eugenia Charles-led Dominica Freedom Party (DFP).<\/p>\n

He remained MP of that constituency for 15 years.<\/p>\n

When the DLP, in coalition with the DFP, came to power in 2000 under Rosie Douglas, Charles was made Minister for Public Works and Communications. During the eight months of Douglas\u2019 tenure as PM, Charles was often called upon to function as the acting Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

When Douglas suddenly died in October 2000, Charles succeeded him.<\/p>\n

He became ill in February 2003 and had angioplasty surgery.<\/p>\n

Despite this, he continued to serve as prime minister until his death, but he did take a medical leave of absence, during which Osborne Riviere acted as Prime Minister.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Today, January 6, marks the Anniversary of the death of Pierre Charles, who served as Dominica\u2019s Prime Minister from 2000 to 2004. Charles was a Member of Parliament for Grand Bay from 1985 until his death. Charles died on the…","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":354777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[235,9,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-354775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage-carousel","category-news","category-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nToday marks the anniversary of the death of former Prime Minister Pierre Charles - Dominica News Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/today-marks-the-anniversary-of-the-death-of-former-prime-minister-pierre-charles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Today marks the anniversary of the death of former Prime Minister Pierre Charles - Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today, January 6, marks the Anniversary of the death of Pierre Charles, who served as Dominica\u2019s Prime Minister from 2000 to 2004. 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