By LEDEDRA MARCHE

Senior FN Reporter

lededra@nasguard.com

The late Edward Gerald Patrick St. George was lauded yesterday by his colleagues in the legal profession as a benefactor, master of law and advocacy, consummate negotiator, and friend.

It was a special sitting of the Supreme Court at the Garnet Levarity Justice Centre, presided over by Justice Stephen G. Isaacs, marking Mr. St. George's death.

He died at age 76 in a Houston, Texas hospital after undergoing surgery for a heart valve replacement.

Mr. St. George once served the Colonial Government of The Bahamas as a Magistrate and Acting Solicitor-General in New Providence in the 1950s.

The moment was described yesterday by Bar Association President Wayne Munroe as bitter-sweet.

Extending condolences to Mr. St. George's family present for the solemn occasion on behalf of the association, Munroe said it was bitter-sweet as it marked the passing of St. George and sweet because they can reflect on the great life he lived.

Mr. St. George was born in Malta, called to the Bar in 1951 in England and recruited to The Bahamas to serve as magistrate five years later.

He returned to The Bahamas in 1968 and became a director at the Grand Bahama Port Authority and eventually co-chairman with long-time friend Sir Jack Hayward.

The two, along with Sir Albert Miller, have steered the Port Authority for the last 30 years.

Attorney-General Alfred Sears described Mr. St. George as the captain of industry who steered Freeport through its most productive years of growth and development and became a man of the people in Grand Bahama.

"The full measure of his contribution was made to an independent Bahamas after his return to The Bahamas in 1967," he said.

The attorney general recalled several accomplishments Mr. St. George made with his co-chair and long-time partner Sir Jack Hayward at the Grand Bahama Port Authority.

He added that as a result of the developments, Grand Bahama became the industrial and commercial centre of The Bahamas.

They included, in part, the provision of a courthouse in Grand Bahama in 1995 and the development of Port Lucaya.

In partnership with the Hutchison Whampoa Group out of Hong Kong came the construction of a new industrial harbour with the largest dry dock in the world, the development of the Our Lucaya conglomerate of hotels, shops and casino and a new international airport.

The minister of education also remembered his last meeting with Mr. St. George and his commitment to give $3 million to construct a junior high school. This, he did, just two weeks after committing $1 million for school repairs in Grand Bahama after Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne.

The minister noted that Mr. St. George had even assisted with funeral expenses for two primary school students who drowned in Sweetings Cay in 2003 and offered a reward back in 2004 when five school boys went missing over a five-month period and participated in the search.

He and Sir Jack each donated $3.5 million to Government in the early 1990s toward the consturction of two highschools in Freeport.

They each now have a school named in their honour.

Mr. St. George and his wife Lady Henrietta founded the Grand Bahama Children's Home, Beacon School for Disabled Children and provided the complex which houses both the PACE and SURE programmes for at-risk students.

Minister Sears added that for decades the Grand Bahama Port Authority has provided scholarships for Bahamians for tertiary studies abroad and at home.

Former Governor-General Sir Orville Turnquest, Q.C. referred to Mr. St. George as a man of many parts who played each one with equal dexterity and defining quality.

Pointing out that some would say Mr. St. George was a godsend to Grand Bahama, Sir Orville said they were gathered in those hallowed walls of justice to pay tribute to him for making himself a legendary part of the Bahamian people and for his mighty contribution to the development of the whole Bahamas stretching back nearly half a century.

As a young attorney practicing mainly in the Magistrate Courts, Sir Orville said he had on numerous occasions appeared before Mr. St. George and also enjoyed Mr. St. George's company socially.

The social setting, he revealed, was sometimes in communion with his former law partner, the late Eugene Dupuch, and the late Sir Kendal Isaacs and a strong friendship was formed.

Attorney Fred Smith spoke about what Mr. St. George was to the Bar, despite the fact that he was not a practioner, and the more than 27-year relationship they both shared.

Smith described him as extremely challenging, complicated, constructed of contradiction and generous to a fault.

"That is a trait which I would encourage all at the Bar to emulate," he said, pointing out that they are leaders of their community.

Admitting his relationship with Mr. St. George started in an aggressively adversarial manner, Smith said Mr. St. George was the consummate deal maker and he eventually was retained by the GBPA in the early 1980s and developed a close-working relationship with him.

He now refers to him as a friend, confidante, mentor and teacher.

Grand Bahama Port Authority President and Attorney Willie Moss, who considers it a good fortune having worked for Mr. St. George for the last 24 and a half years, said he was a master of the law.

"He possessed phenomenal versatlity," she said. "it was his position, as is the position of many of us, that the weakest case argued strongly was much better than the strongest case argued weakly."

She knew him as a brilliant strategist and a strong proponent of the belief that one should not view difficult issues as problems, but rather as opportunities to find solutions.

She said Mr. St. George epitomised the Biblical principal: To whom much is given, much is required.

"If we were to have a thousand special sittings in his honour, they would not, My Lord, be sufficient for me to tell you the half of the good that he has done," she said.

Following Justice Isaacs' brief remarks, a moment of silence was observed in honour of the late Mr. St. George.

CAPTION: CLOSE RELATIONSHIP — Attorney Fred Smith remembered the close relationship he and former Magistrate and Grand Bahama Port Authority Chairman Edward St. George shared in the 27 years he knew him. Also present at the special sitting in the Supreme Court from left were Mr. St. George's wife Lady Henrietta; and daughters Katie, Sarah, and Caroline. Seated second from right in the back is his partner and friend Sir Jack Hayward and at right is Sir Jack's son, Rick Hayward.(Staff photos by LEDEDRA MARCHE)