John Carlin

John Carlin (Born 24 August 1929) was a Santa Dominican politician and the 4th Prime Minister of Santa Dominica. The was a member of the Liberal Party. He was prime minister from September 1985 until March 1991, when he was forced into an election by the Labour Party, which was in governing coalition with his Liberal Party following the 1990 General Election. He was the first Liberal prime minister and was seen by many as a moderate choice to coalesce around after more than 12 years of Conservative party rule. He was quite popular throughout his tenure and left office the second most popular prime minister at the date of his exit (57% approval rating).

He reformed many of the conservative actions done under Mike Richardson's government, such as reinstating a progressive income tax system and raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations. Many of Carlin's reforms were amplified by Jonathan King's Socialist government which succeeded him.

Death
John Carlin is the most recent prime minister to have passed away. He passed away on 15 June 2008 at the age of 78. Prime Minister Andrew Walker called for twelve days of mourning and he received a state funeral in which more than 200,000 people attended.