Morris White, a tough businessman who relished involvement in the day-to-day operations of his Warwick supermarket, including collecting overdue accounts receivables, died Christmas Day. He was 78.

Those who worked with Mr. White described him as a “firm but fair businessman”.

When customers bounced a cheque at White's Supermarket, Mr. White, who was the owner and president, used to call them personally to sort out the problem. Many agreed to come to the Southampton store to settle their debt.

But when customers didn't show up as promised, Mr. White would put them on his “3 a.m. list.” An early riser, Mr. White called those customers in the middle of the night to remind them that they still owed him money.

“It would irritate him to no end when people said things and did not follow through with them,” explained Mr. White's son, Michael, who is now the company's president.

“I always found Mr. White to be a no-nonsense businessman,” said Travis Gilbert, the shop's manager. In the grocery industry, Bermuda has lost a giant.”

Mr. White became became the full owner of White's in 1973 and it seems the man was inseparable from the business. He was once seen on Burnt House Hill chasing after a thief who had stolen groceries from his store. And when accounts were in arrears without a good reason, he would take his debtors - however small the amount owed - to court out of principle. He would argue the case himself, without a lawyer.

He deplored dishonesty, and according to Mr. Gilbert, set an example.

“If a delivery came in with 21 cases and he was billed for 20, he would send one back,” Mr. Gilbert said.

“But if he received 19 and was billed for 20, he would certainly get the extra case. Because of his honesty, his claims were treated without much concern.”

He expected the same honesty from his employees. When employees couldn't make it to work on time, they were only allowed to use the same excuse once.

“Somehow he knew if you were lying or trying to pull the wool over his eyes,” said Diane Scott, who has worked at White's for 33 years and now supervises the cashiers.

Mr. White was passionate about his store and interested in every detail, down to the arrangement of the shelves.

“If he found out you had done something without telling him what was going on, he didn't like that,” Michael recalled.

A demanding employer, he didn't hesitate to ask people to do something again if he wasn't satisfied with their effort.

Michael recalled when he and another employee were unloading peas from a container and stacking them in the warehouse across the street from Whites. The stack was tilting slightly, so Mr. White told them to repack the peas.

And if employees had stocked a shelf of pet food without making sure the English label was facing outward, Mr. White would make them restack the shelf.

But he would never ask anyone to do anything that he wouldn't do himself. Employees described him as a “hands-on” person who spent much of his time on the supermarket floor instead of his office. He would even help pack groceries if the store was short staffed.

When he arrived at the store in the morning, Mr. White began his day by walking down the specials aisle and cleaning up the boxes, and he expected employees to be as organised and methodical as he was.

He was also a very thorough businessman. “Whenever you called Morris White with a proposal, you had to have all your ducks in a row,” Mr. Gilbert said, who was an agent for Purvis, the wholesalers, prior to working for White's.

But while Mr. White may have been a demanding employer, employees agreed that he was fair and kind. White's Supermarket was one of the first employers on the island to obtain life insurance for its employees.

He also helped people individually. “He was a very private man (in that) he helped people, but he didn't want anyone to know about it,” Mr. Gilbert said.

Ms Scott recalled the time her son had chicken pox.

“I asked him if I could take time off from Monday to Thursday,” she said. “He was very understanding and said ‘Okay, I'll give you the time off, but make sure you are in here on time on Friday and Saturday.'”

Born on June 4, 1924, Mr. White attended Somers College in Southampton and Warwick Academy. He joined the family grocery business in 1941, which his father, Leyland White, had started in 1924. Leyland retired in 1962.

The store expanded fourfold in 1966, and the small, over-the-counter store was transformed into a supermarket.

“Morris White was a visionary in the supermarket business,” Mr. Gilbert said. “He was able to foresee the necessity to build a modern supermarket.”

The store was damaged extensively by fire during the riots of 1977, and was closed for six weeks. The day after the fire, employees came into work, and Mr. White told them: “We won't do our regular work today, but we will be working.”

Mr. White continued to employ his workers for most of the time that the shop was closed - but instead of operating the cash register or stocking shelves, employees cleaned up the damage from the fire: scrubbing floors, repainting shelves and cleaning out the refrigerators and freezers.

Today, White's employs 60 full-time staff and 40 part-time staff. Haywards Grocery, which Whites bought and opened in February of this year, has 15 employees.

Mr. White retired in 1994, handing over control of the supermarket to his sons, Michael and Gary. After retiring, he maintained a keen interest in the store.

“He's always been a person to be in charge, whether he's here or not,” Michael said. His father was not involved in day-to-day decisions, but his sons occasionally went to him for advice. When the brothers entered negotiations to open a supermarket at Southside after their father retired, Morris gave guidance and attended some of the meetings. “We hadn't done anything like that before,” Michael said.

When he wasn't working, Mr. White was an avid boater. He enjoyed repairing and maintaining his boat at Glasgow Lodge right up to his death.

Mr. White's funeral will be held at 4 p.m. today at St. Anne's Church in Southampton. White's Supermarket will close at noon today.

Mr. White is survived by his wife, Mary, sons Michael and Gary, daughter Karen and four grandchildren.