Derek M. Hodge (October 5, 1941 – May 31, 2011) 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. The Virgin Islands Daily News called him a "towering figure in local politics," referring to his political career, which spanned several decades. Biography Early life Derek Michael Hodge was born on October 5, 1941, on the island of Saint Croix to parents, Rexford Hodge and Enid Kettle Hodge. He had one brother – Winston Hodge. Hodge was a cousin of Sir Cuthbert Sebastian, the Governor-General of Saint Kitts and Nevis. He was raised in the Crucian town of Frederiksted and attended elementary school on the island. 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. Hodge received a bachelor's degree in political science in 1963 from Michigan State University. As an undergrad at Michigan State, Hodge formed a steel band called the Bamboushay Steel Band consisting of himself, Ariel Melchior Jr. (the future publisher of the Virgin Islands Daily News) and his brother, Winston Hodge. Following his graduation from Michigan State in 1963, worked as a teacher at schools in New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands, including Brooklyn College, Elena Christian Junior High School in Saint Croix and the College of the Virgin Islands. In 1966, Hodge competed as a center basketball player at the 1966 Central American and Caribbean Games in San Juan with the U.S. Virgin Islands basketball team. He earned a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington D.C. in 1971. Political career Hodge moved back to Saint Croix in 1972 and joined his brother's law firm, Hodge, Sheen and Finch. He became active in local politics and was elected the St. Croix District Chairman of the Democratic Party in 1974. He remained a lifelong Democrat. In 1982, Hodge ran for Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands as a Democrat, but without the official endorsement of the Democratic Party. He lost the election. (Governor Juan Francisco Luis won re-election for a second term in a five-candidate gubernatorial race. Hodge then served as the president of the Virgin Islands Bar Association shortly before his election to the legislature in 1984. Hodge attempted a successful political comeback