Former Jamaican ambassador to the United States Professor Richard Bernal has died.

Bernal reportedly suffered a heart attack and collapsed while walking for exercise.

Bernal, a Jamaican economist and diplomat, served as Jamaican Ambassador to the United States from 1991 to 2001, simultaneously holding the post of permanent representative of Jamaica to the Organization of American States.

Since leaving the diplomatic corps in 2001, he had continued to serve as a trade advisor and negotiator for various Jamaican and Caribbean regional trade organisations.

He served as director-general of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM) for eight years where he was responsible for trade negotiations for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Cuba and the Dominican Republic. 

As principal negotiator for the Forum of Caribbean States (CARIFORUM), Bernal participated in the negotiation of the CARIFORUM-European Union Economic Partnership Agreement and also served as CARICOM’s lead negotiator and spokesperson in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations.

Between 2008 and 2016, Bernal served as a member of the Board of the Inter-American Development Bank.

In 2015, he served as a member of the World Bank’s External Advisory Panel for Diversity and Inclusion.

Bernal was also a professor of practice at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies and pro vice-chancellor for global affairs at the University of the West Indies.