News of the sudden death of Nelson Bascome, the Minister of Health, has rightly been greeted with deep regret from across the political spectrum.

Mr. Bascome was one of a new wave of young and new political candidates who ran for the Progressive Labour Party in 1989, four years after the party's catastrophic defeat in 1985 when it was reduced to seven seats to the United Bermuda Party's 31.

Mr. Bascome, then an officer in the Bermuda Housing Corporation, was nominated to run in the traditional PLP stronghold of Pembroke East, where Austin Thomas had held on to the seat after being thrown out of the PLP and going on to form the National Liberal Party.

Mr. Bascome, then in his early 30s, would defeat Mr. Thomas, thus ending the NLP's dreams of supplanting the PLP.

More importantly, he was part of a new wave of PLP MPs, among them Dame Jennifer Smith, the late David Allen, Julian Hall and Dennis Lister, who showed the PLP was alive and coming back from the grave under the leadership of the late Frederick Wade.

Until 1998, Mr. Bascome was an outspoken MP in Opposition and a dedicated constituency MP. He was forthright on the issues of racism and the lack of opportunities for young black males at a time when these issues were assumed by some to be solved, but he also maintained a reputation as a moderate and one of the common sense members of the PLP.

As has been noted widely, Mr. Bascome had a particular commitment to young people and to the dispossessed, a group of people he knew well from his time as a drugs counsellor.

In 1998, he joined the Cabinet and served as Minister of Health and Housing, and would take on the former portfolio again before his death.

Despite Mr. Bascome's undoubted passion for helping people, his Cabinet career was not without missteps, especially as his tenure at Housing coincided with the scandal over the Bermuda Housing Corporation. Allegations were made against him, along with other PLP MPs. No prosecutions were ever brought, but the scandal, along with the first PLP Government's slowness in easing the housing shortage, damaged his reputation as a manager.

Mr. Bascome then backed Dr. Ewart Brown in the infamous 2003 election rebellion when 11 MPs refused to continue to serve under Dame Jennifer. From then on, it is fair to say that his loyalty to Dr. Brown was unstinting, and was repaid when he returned to Cabinet when Dr. Brown became Premier in 2006.

After the 2007 election, Mr. Bascome was responsible for launching Future Care, the system of affordable health care for senior citizens, but this was slow to come about, as the scale and cost of the project proved to be enormous, especially as the economy deteriorated.

Still, Mr. Bascome could not be held responsible for the scaling back as this was more a case of an irresponsible election promise made without adequate costing or planning.

As one of Dr. Brown's most dedicated supporters, he will be a major loss for the Premier at a time when he is short of support in his parliamentary group. Indeed, before his death, he had agreed to take on Education in addition to Health – a monumental task.

When not in Cabinet, Mr. Bascome was also a dedicated member of the Board of Trustees at the Whitney Institute, and his sage advice there will be missed, as no doubt it will be at Devonshire Colts, where he coached and where his support knew no limits. Mr. Bascome will be missed by all who knew him.