Friends and neighbours paid tribute to a philanthropist who used to march to a "complex drum beat".

Stewart Rawlins Mott, was 70 years old when he died Thursday night at the Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, New York.

Mr. Mott was born on December 4, 1937, in Flint, Michigan to Charles Stewart Mott, the largest individual stock holder of General Motors in the 1960s after selling the family manufacturing business to the company, and the former Ruth Rawlings, Mr. Mott's fourth wife.

They also had two daughters. (The elder Mr. Mott also had a son and two daughters with his first wife, the former Ethel Culbert Harding.)

He would spend anywhere between five to six months of the year at his Parapet, Scaur Hill home in Somerset ever since he was a little boy and his father and mother Ruth, bought the 13-acre property.

In 1979, he married Kappy Wells, a sculptor. They divorced in 1999. He is survived by a son, Sam, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and a sister, Maryanne Mott, of Santa Barbara, California, and Montana.

Walter Roberts, who was one of his neighbours said he remembered a man who, though difficult to get to know, was an extremely loyal friend.

He said: "He was one of those individuals, to know him was to understand his generosity and his willingness to do his best for the community.

"He was a very probing man and if you didn't know him one could be offended, but he was just very interested in the community and getting to know you.

"(He was) easy to talk to, I would drop by every time I drove by."

Bermuda was like a second home for the generous 'eccentric' who gave vociferously to help with social issues on the Island.

Stuart Hayward, an activist and good friend of Mr. Mott's said: "I have known Stewart Rawlins Mott since the 1970s when he offered a seed grant to assist the Nuclear Awareness Group, of which I was a co-founder, get off the ground.

"He had heard about our effort and sought us out to make the offer. That was typical of him, to assertively locate activists and causes that fit his particular blend of social activism.

"Since then we have formed an enduring friendship that has spread across three generations and the stretch of Atlantic Ocean between here and the US.

"Stewart was as gregarious as they come. To describe Stewart as eccentric is to shortchange the complex drumbeat to which he marched. For Stewart, thinking outside the box was his norm.

"He enjoyed injecting words or ideas into conversations that would stretch the comfort zones of his audience."

Mr. Mott began in both public and private schools until age 13 when went to Deerfield Academy in Massachusetss and then studied engineering for three years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before hitchhiking around the world for a year, spending just $1,500.

He finished his education at Columbia, earning two bachelor's degrees, one in business administration and one in comparative literature, and a Phi Beta Kappa key.

While pursuing his education, Mr. Mott worked as an apprentice in various family enterprises. In the academic year 1963-64, he taught English at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti.

His philanthropy began when he returned to Flint and started a branch of Planned Parenthood. He then travelled the nation on behalf of Planned Parenthood.

He brought his passion for the social issue to Bermuda where, after recruiting Olga Scott to help, Mr. Mott provided the grant for Youth Education Development Programme which is now Teen Services.

"He does things his way, but once a friend always a good friend and he was always the same person who believed in social causes," said Mrs. Scott.

"In the early days he was a supporter of Planned Parenthood when it wasn't popular and was always interested in how it was going here."

Incredibly devoted to his causes and friends, Mr. Mott was also an avid host who seemed to enjoy mixing people from all segments of the population.

Patrice Horner said she was also saddened by the news because she was looking forward to seeing Mr. Mott next month when he was due to return to the Island. "He had been on the Island for Christmas. I was really, really looking forward to seeing him next month, but he never made it back. He loved it so much here."