Tributes have been paid to Pastor Ronald (Ronnie) C.E. Smith, who has died aged 60 in Baltimore.

Known to many as Pastor Ronnie, he had been undergoing treatment for lymphoma. He died on Tuesday at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Family members said the cause of death was not yet established.

A senior chaplain for the Bermuda Department of Corrections and an avid tennis player, Rev. Smith, of the First Church of God, Angle Street, fell ill over the summer.

Bishop Vernon Lambe, of the First Church of God, described his relationship to Rev. Smith as "like father and son".

"In 1975 he was one of my early converts. Ronnie was strong in the streets in those days. He never denied that part of himself." He said Rev. Smith was "a model of what can happen in a young man's life when he makes a decision."

Born June 25, 1950, Rev. Smith divided his troubled childhood between several homes. At nine he settled with his mother Evelyn Lespere, of Laffan Street, living also with aunt Elsie Butterfield.

"He had other foster homes," Mrs. Lespere said, recalling how he once ran away to her house. "It wasn't easy in the beginning but it got better. I thank God for my mother Beulah Smith, who helped me raise him."

She said Rev. Smith attended Northlands Primary and Prospect Boys School before attending high school in Newark, New Jersey.

He was a regular at the National Tennis Stadium, where then-manager William Martin mentored him.

"Ronnie was a left-handed natural tennis player and a junior champion," recalled WER Joell Tennis Stadium manager Eugene Woods.

In June of 1975, Rev. Smith married Shirlene Dickenson. They lived together in Hamilton Parish near Shelly Bay. Shortly thereafter, he experienced a dramatic religious conversion.

Speaking from Baltimore, daughter Safiya Dyer said: "My dad always used to say good things happened to him in December. He was saved in December of 1975. I was born on Christmas Day in 1978."

In 1981 he began at Warner Southern Bible College in Florida, graduating with an Associates Degree in Pastoral Ministry in May 1983. Returning to Bermuda that month, he was promptly appointed pastor.

As well as conducting Bible studies from Angle Street, Rev. Smith ran marriage counselling and an after-school programme open to the area's primary schools. He continued to play tennis, coaching the Bermuda Federation Tennis team and Bermuda Women Police Tennis.

One of his most prominent roles was chaplaincy at Bermuda's prisons. He was appointed in April 1994.

Assistant Commissioner of Corrections, Clarence Davis, said Mr. Smith's earlier life had prepared for the calling.

"The inmates would share openly and honestly with him. He listened. The majority of his service was at the Co-Ed Facility working with the young offenders and female offenders, and he later worked with the adult male offenders."

He worked as a substance abuse counsellor and had been appointed earlier this year to Senior Chaplain Co-ordinator.

Rev. Smith never shied from his past. Safiya Dyer said her father's example saved her as well as others.

"My dad was involved in bad things when he was younger but he was always open about it, and that's why I've never been drunk or smoked anything. He was a Godly example. We're really close — he could finish my sentences for me."

Mrs. Smith, 57, called her husband "a wonderful father, always ready to help. If someone called in the middle of the night, he'd drop everything and go."

Pastor Smith was close to his uncle, musician Hubert Smith, but Shirlene Smith said the musical gift eluded her husband.

"Ronnie played the flute but that was as far as he went. He loved jazz and did programmes for Bermuda Spirit (1230 AM radio)."

This summer, Rev. Smith organised the One in the Son event at the First Church of God Heritage Worship Centre. Mrs. Dyer said her father was determined to set up a gathering for Christians over Cup Match.

"One in the Son was awesome. There were workshops, gospel concerts and artists from overseas. When he fell ill on the first day of Cup Match we just thought it was exhaustion."

Rev. Smith was in no pain during his treatment, she said.

"While he was in hospital he recognised he was living with what he had preached. He fought right to the last heartbeat."

Rev. Smith is survived by his wife Shirlene, son Michael Ransom, daughter Safiya Dyer, parents Evelyn Lespere and Gerard Lespere I, brother Greg Smith, sister Rozita Miller, brother Andrew Smith, brother Gerard Lespere II, as well as nine grandchildren.