Julian Kenny

Who was Julian Kenny?

Julian Stanley "Jake" Kenny was a Trinidadian zoologist, columnist, author and Professor of Zoology at the St. Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies and an Independent Senator in the fifth and sixth Parliaments. He is best known for his work on freshwater fishes and anurans, and for his contribution to the conservation movement in Trinidad and Tobago.

Kenny was born in Woodbrook, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago,and was educated at Belmont Intermediate School and then at St Mary's. After completing Grade 13 at Ridley College in St. Catharines, Canada, he received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto. After working at a fisheries laboratory in Canada, Kenny returned to Trinidad where he worked as a scientific officer in what would later become the Fisheries Division. After working there for nine years, he entered Birbeck College, University of London, where he obtained a PhD. After graduating he joined the Department of Biological Sciences at the St. Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies. After retiring from the department, Kenny served as Chairman of the Trustees of the Guardian Life Wildlife Fund.