A pillar of Bermuda’s equestrian community and enduring member of the Government Sports Awards committee was also a devoted Bermuda Olympic Association official.

Mike Cherry, a former police officer, was a sporting natural: a founding member of the Bermuda Squash Racquets Association and the Harbour Swim Club who served on the board of the Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association, according to his daughter, Lesley Cherry White, a champion swimmer who represented Bermuda in regional competitions.

She called him “an amazing man” who touched many lives.

His son Dennis Cherry was Bermuda’s equestrian chef d'equipe in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. He represented the island in three-day equestrian Eventing, as well in rugby.

He said his father was “there from the first of the sports awards — I was involved in horses and he got involved too and just kept going”.

The two added that a celebration of Mr Cherry’s life was planned for 4pm today at the Phoebe Purvis Memorial Hall at Warwick Academy.

Mr Cherry’s support of his children’s sports led him into a number of roles, including public relations, but he brought a technical aptitude for sport in general.

Austin Woods, president of the BOA from 1988 to 2000, appointed Mr Cherry as chairman of the BOA’s standards committee in 1992.

He continued on the committee for the next 32 years.

Mr Cherry also served as vice-president of the BOA under its next president, John Hoskins, beginning in 2000.

Peter Dunne, current BOA president, said: “Mike will be missed by the entire BOA family and the broader Bermuda sporting community.“

His involvement in the BOA began as the representative of the Bermuda Equestrian Federation

Mr Dunne said: “He was a steady hand to guide some of the most challenging processes of our organisation.

“At all times, Mike held the interests of the athletes at the centre of deliberation, and encouraged all to pursue their highest personal successes.

“Mike’s long association with our organisation, the BEF and the Annual Sports Awards demonstrates that his was a lifelong commitment, one that he shared with Anne and his entire family.”

He added: “Though our work will continue without Mike, we will be continually guided by the memory of his service to the community”.

Mr Cherry hailed from a farm near Wollaston, a village in Northamptonshire, England, where he got his introduction to horses.

His police experience began in 1954, when he left school for the cadet scheme of the Northamptonshire County Constabulary.

A year later he joined the Royal Air Force and trained up as a radar mechanic. Mr Cherry played rugby in both the police and RAF.

Mr Cherry joined the Leicester City Police in February 1958, where he spotted an advert for work in Bermuda — and came out to the island in July 1959. He joined the Traffic Department in 1960.

In 1961 he married a Bermudian, Anne Bindon. They had two children.

Mr Cherry’s sports involvement deepened with squash as well as rugby.

In the Bermuda Police Force he was promoted to sergeant in 1963, and was posted to the Western Division as a watch sergeant.

As recounted in an extensive history available online, Mr Cherry left the police in 1968.

“This move opened the way for me to enter another different phase of life in the travel industry, eventually becoming a co-owner of Watlington and Conyers shipping company.“

Jekon Edness, the Sports Awards overseer for the Department of Youth, Sport and Recreation, said this year would be the awards’ first without Mr Cherry after his retirement.

“He was very committed to members of the committee, a very knowledgeable individual and confident of his knowledge, with a very good ability to get his point across eloquently but also persuasively.

“Even though he was up in age, he understood the process to a T.”

The Bermuda Equestrian Foundation commended his “great commitment and unwavering dedication” as BEF president for more than 20 years.

The group said Mr Cherry represented Bermuda on the Fédération Equestre Internationale, which establishes regulations and approves equestrian programmes at championship, continental and regional games as well as the Olympic and Para Olympic Games.

As BEF president, Mr Cherry represented Bermuda at 15 FEI general assemblies.

At the 2015 assembly, the year he retired as president, Ingmar de Vos, the governing body’s president, presented Mr Cherry with the FEI Badge of Honour for dedicated service.

The BEF said Mr Cherry and his wife served as “the backbones of the BEF — managing administrative and governance duties as well as assisting with preparation before, during and after BEF events”.

The group added that the “Cherry Team” were typically the first to arrive and the last to leave horse shows.

Former BEF president Ian Truran, who succeeded Mr Cherry in 2015, said: “Mike was such a giving person.

“I started having interactions with Mike once I got past my adolescent years. He was a formidable individual and a great mentor — determined and driven. The majority of that was with the equestrian side, but he was very active in sailing, swimming and with the BOA.

“He encouraged me personally to get my professional designation as a course designer with the FEI and drove me to get more and more involved with the BEF.

“The crowning moment was when we hosted the past president of the FEI in Bermuda.”

Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein of Jordan, elected in 2006 as president, wanted the visit to be “a bit low-key”, Mr Truran said.

“Mike took great pride in it.”

He said Mr Cherry made his way up to becoming regional president.

“He was very proud through those years not only domestically representing us, but internationally at the highest level.

“The best way to sum him up from a professional perspective was that he was incredibly disciplined through challenging, complex times — able to maintain decorum professionally and progress to a positive outcome.

“He was a family man through and through, and a great mentor as well.”

• Michael John Cherry, a police sergeant and former head of the Bermuda Equestrian Federation, was born on September 3, 1937. He died in March 2024, aged 86.