Maurice Bishop (1944-1983) was a leader of the New Jewel Movement which proclaimed the independence of Grenada in 1974. After a 1979 coup he served as prime minister of Grenada until his death in a subsequent coup in 1983.

Maurice Rupert Bishop was born May 29, 1944, on the island of Aruba, Netherland Antilles, of immigrant parents, Rupert and Alimenta Bishop. His parents had joined the intraregional migrant stream then taking advantage of the petroleum-based economic prosperity in the southern Caribbean islands. Returning to Grenada, where his father entered commerce, at the age of six, Bishop attended St. George's Roman Catholic Primary School. He then won a scholarship to Presentation College, the Catholic high school in Grenada. His high school career was distinguished. He won the Principal's Gold Medal for outstanding academic and general all-round ability; he founded the Historical Society and served as its first president; and he edited the school newspaper...