Sir Frank Blackman, the former chairman of the Boundaries Commission that revamped Bermuda’s electoral system, has died at the age of 96.

The commission chaired by the Barbadian civil servant established the system of 36 constituencies with one MP each and with each constituency having roughly equal numbers of voters.

Sir Frank is survived by Bermudian Lady Norma Blackman who was presented with an Order of the British Empire in 1996 after serving as Director of Social Services and later Vice-President of the Senate.

Sir Frank, who died on Thursday, was the first Cabinet Secretary in post-colonial Barbados.

Recognised for his selfless and meritorious service to his profession and country, and for his contribution to the development of the Barbados Civil Service, he was awarded two knighthoods by Queen Elizabeth II and the then governor-general.

Before the Boundaries Commission’s overhaul of the electoral system, Bermuda had 20 dual-seat constituencies, with each parish having two constituencies except Pembroke, which had four. Some constituencies, notably in Warwick, were twice the size of other constituencies.

John Barritt, a former One Bermuda Alliance leader who was a member of the commission, told The Royal Gazette yesterday that the commission “was arguably the most important and significant since the adoption of the Bermuda Constitution Order 1968”.

Mr Barritt added: “It was no easy task and it had the potential to be contentious and divisive. I am proud to say that it was not and a lot of the credit here goes to Sir Frank and the way he managed the process.

“He proved himself to be, as I came to know him, a wonderful and disarming gentleman who brought his personal qualities to bear — even-handed and fair with what seemed like an inexhaustible supply of patience.

“Sir Frank also deserves a lot of the credit for the fact that we emerged at the end of the day with unanimous agreement on the number of seats and their boundaries.”

In September 2002, Dame Jennifer Smith, then Premier, tabled the commission’s report in the House of Assembly. The following month a unanimous vote agreed to forward the report to the British Foreign Secretary.

Dame Jennifer said at the time: “The preparation and submission of this document should be viewed as a watershed development towards the realisation of a long-cherished dream of the Bermuda Progressive Labour Party and many other right-thinking Bermudians — that of establishing a modernised and reformed electoral system predicated on the democratic ideal of ‘one person, one vote, each vote of equal value'.”

As per its mandate, the commission made efforts for each constituency to be as equal in size as possible.

A 5 per cent variation range from the ideal figure of 1,089 voters was agreed upon, which meant that a constituency could contain between 1,035 and 1,143 voters.

As recommended by the commission, the largest constituency, Smith's North, would contain 1,148 voters, while the smallest, Warwick South Central, would have 1,031.

Sir Frank, described in an obituary by the Barbados news organisation Nation News as “the consummate Public Officer”, served as Barbados’s Cabinet Secretary for 20 years from 1966 to 1986.

During the last five of those years, he was also Head of the Civil Service and later became Ombudsman for Barbados between 1987 and 1993.

Mia Amor Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados, paid tribute to Sir Frank in Nation News describing him as “a leading light of the Barbados public service”.