An American business head who spent the early 1980s in Bermuda has died, aged 87.

Clayton Cormier, originally from Bay City, Michigan, died on June 9 in Jupiter, Florida, after a brief illness.

Mr Cormier came to the island in 1979 as the president and chief executive of Ancon Insurance, which was a captive subsidiary of Exxon in Bermuda.

Mr Cormier, a father of three who also had two stepchildren by his second wife, is survived by his business partner and husband of 27 years, Brian Gurney.

According to a family statement, his twin sister Claudette died less than 48 hours after his passing.

Mr Cormier earned his bachelor of business administration and master of business administration degrees in 1957 at the University of Michigan.

He then joined the Standard Oil Company in New York as a financial analyst, and in 1961 was promoted to a senior foreign exchange analyst with Esso International.

Mr Cormier became Exxon International’s treasurer in 1969, and after his promotion to assistant treasurer of Exxon Mobile in 1973, he rose to president and CEO at Ancon.

He moved to Bermuda in 1979 and held a board position at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, then known as the Bermuda Biological Station For Research.

Mr Cormier moved to New York in 1985 to lead a new oil and gas department at Johnson & Higgins.

He and his husband ran Smith Gurney Antiques Ltd in New York before shifting the business to Warren, a small town in Vermont.

The family statement added: “He thrived in all of his communities with his gentle demeanour, intelligence, kindness, smile, and love for life.”