Tribute to Hugue André Chrysostome (Chryso)

« An educator doesn't just teach knowledge: they shape consciences and prepare the future ». Haiti, particularly the Artibonite and West departments, has just lost one of its most illustrious intellectuals and educators. Professor Hugue André Chrysostome, known as Chryso, a brilliant physics teacher, exceptional educator, founder and director of Collège Bertrand Russell, which later became Collège Hugue André Chrysostome, passed away on the night of Thursday, January 15 to Friday, January 16, 2026, at his residence on Lamartinière Avenue (Bois-Verna). Hugue André was much more than a colleague to me: he was a guide, an enlightener. It is thanks to him that I was able to join Collège Bertrand Russell as a literature and social sciences teacher, alongside a host of competent and passionate young teachers, including Exil Larieux, Nader Joiséus and his older brother Wilfrid (Maître Joa), Joseph Bouchereau, Frrtzner Faustin, Renan Hedouville, Antoine Augustin, Carl Henry Décastro, Léo Défay, André Suprême and his wife Chantal, Esaü Pierre, Berline Excéus, and the late Corneille Pierre-Louis and Frérot Elisma, whose memory remains vivid, to name but a few. A native of Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite, Hugue André Chrysostome was a brilliant mind, trained in engineering, foreign languages, and psychology, both in Haiti and abroad. A former student of the École normale supérieure, the Faculté d’ethnologie, and the Leconte institution, he distinguished himself by a rare intellectual rigor, a keen sense of demanding excellence, and a critical elegance that commanded respect. A seasoned educator and school principal, he trained several generations of students at Lycée Pétion and in many colleges in the capital, including Bertrand Russell, HAC, and La Renaissance. His intellectual commitment, pedagogical rigor, and dedication to youth education left a lasting mark on the country. He ardently believed in school as the foundation of human dignity and national emancipation. An upright, sincere man deeply attached to republican values, Hugue André Chrysostome spoke directly, with frankness and conviction. A discreet patriot, a lover of knowledge and the finer things of the mind, he was lucidly concerned about the erosion of values in the country he deeply loved and never wanted to leave despite all adversities. For his grieving entourage, his passing is also a painful reminder of a lost battle against dependencies that became too heavy to bear. In recent years, despite repeated warnings from his doctors and sincere advice from his friends, he had fallen into an excessive dependence on alcohol and cigarettes, which progressively undermined his health. This reality, however painful to mention, now stands as one of the profound causes of his premature demise. With the passing of this discreet nationalist and patriot, a lover of the finer things of the mind, Haiti loses one of its solid roots, one of those men who still held up the common house. His educational work remains alive in the memory of his students and in the collective consciousness of the nation. Go in peace, my old friend.
Your family, your friends, your colleagues, your former students, and all those you knew how to help, advise, or inspire will never forget you. Your work continues to live on in the consciences you awakened. Your friend,
Pierre Josué Agénor Cadet