Derek Michael Hodge was an American Virgin Islander politician and lawyer who served as the Lieutenant Governor of the United States Virgin Islands for two terms from 1987 to 1995 under Governor Alexander Farrelly.
26 Facts About Derek Hodge
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Derek Hodge was a cousin of Sir Cuthbert Sebastian, the Governor-General of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
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Derek Hodge was raised in the Crucian town of Frederiksted and attended elementary school on the island.
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Derek Hodge attended high school at Colegio San Justo on the neighboring island of Puerto Rico, where he graduated as class valedictorian and acquired a fluency in Spanish.
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Derek Hodge received a bachelor's degree in political science in 1963 from Michigan State University.
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In 1966, Derek Hodge competed as a center basketball player at the 1966 Central American and Caribbean Games in San Juan with the US Virgin Islands basketball team.
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Derek Hodge earned a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington DC in 1971.
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Derek Hodge moved back to Saint Croix in 1972 and joined his brother's law firm, Derek Hodge, Sheen and Finch.
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Derek Hodge became active in local politics and was elected the St Croix District Chairman of the Democratic Party in 1974.
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In 1982, Derek Hodge ran for Governor of the US Virgin Islands as a Democrat, but without the official endorsement of the Democratic Party.
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Derek Hodge then served as the president of the Virgin Islands Bar Association shortly before his election to the legislature in 1984.
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Derek Hodge attempted a successful political comeback in 1984, when he was elected as a senator to the 16th Legislature of the Virgin Islands.
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Derek Hodge won the most votes in the senate race on Saint Croix.
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In 1986, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alexander Farrelly persuaded Derek Hodge to leave the Senate and become his running mate for lieutenant governor in the election.
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Farrelly and Derek Hodge defeated the Republican Julio Brady and won the election in November 1986.
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Derek Hodge is remembered for lobbying for federal emergency funds to rebuild after Hurricane Hugo struck Saint Croix in 1989, devastating the island's buildings and infrastructure.
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Governor Derek Hodge announced his candidacy for governor in 1994 with the full endorsement of the Democratic Party and chose Alfred O Heath as his running mate for lieutenant governor.
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Derek Hodge was defeated in a special gubernatorial runoff election held on November 22,1994, by the independent ticket of Roy Schneider, and his running mate, Kenneth Mapp.
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Derek Hodge left office on January 2,1995, when Schneider and Mapp were sworn in as governor and lieutenant governor.
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In 2002, Derek Hodge delivered the eulogy for former Governor Alexander Farrelly in Washington DC.
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Derek Michael Hodge died of cancer on May 31,2011, at the age of 69.
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Derek Hodge was survived by his first wife, Jessica Margaret Austin Hodge, his second wife, Beatrice Emmy Nieves Hodge, and the last wife, Monique Sibilly-Hodge; two children, Marisol Cohen and Jonathan Hodge; his sister, Coleen Hodge; and three grandchildren, Olivia, Malachi and Hadassah.
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Derek Hodge was preceded in death by his brother, Winston Anthony Benjamin Hodge, and his parents.
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Derek Hodge was the flown to Christiansted, where he was laid in state on Saint Croix's Government House as well.
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Derek Hodge's funeral was held at St John's Episcopal Church in Christiansted on June 10,2011.
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Derek Hodge was buried at Frederiksted Cemetery with honors provided by the Virgin Islands National Guard.