A former senator who became one of the island’s first corporate attorneys was a soft-spoken powerhouse of the litigation world.

Lynda Milligan-Whyte’s work as a lawyer in the 1980s — and her knowledge in the field of business — helped to strengthen the island’s reputation as a respectable offshore jurisdiction.

As a senator for the ruling United Bermuda Party in the 1980s and 1990s, Ms Milligan-Whyte — who died last week at the age of 79 — was a tireless champion of people who were less well off and for social justice, arguing that the majority of Bermudians lacked educational and economic opportunities.

Educated at The Berkeley Institute, Ms Milligan-Whyte worked in the health sector after college, but returned to school in her late twenties to study teaching, earning three degrees from Queen’s University in Ontario.

However, that career was also short-lived. After a year of teaching at her alma mater, she returned to Queen’s to study law.

Explaining her reasons for moving on from teaching, Ms Milligan-Whyte told The Mid-Ocean News in a 1987 interview: “I didn’t want to be part of a system that I saw was not bringing out the very best in Bermuda’s children.”

After graduation, Ms Milligan-Whyte worked for Ontario’s Securities Commission before returning home to take up a position as a corporate lawyer with Appleby, Spurling and Kempe, having been called to the Bermuda and Ontario bars in 1983.

She went on to set up law firm Milligan-Whyte & Smith, where she specialised in corporate and commercial law, insurance and reinsurance, financial services, trusts, computer software and intellectual property law.

Ms Milligan-Whyte’s son, Jerome Johnson, described his mother yesterday as “a ball of energy”.

He said: “I think her biggest contribution to Bermuda was that she trained so many Bermudian lawyers.

“She was pretty much one of the first corporate lawyers in Bermuda and she helped other lawyers cut their corporate teeth.

“As a person she was very outgoing and very personable. She was quite the socialite and loved to entertain. She was a ball of energy.

“She was also a great mother, a great mentor, and loved spending time with her grandchildren.”

Ms Milligan-Whyte first served in the Upper House for the UBP from 1987 to 1990 and again for several years in the mid-1990s.

In her maiden speech she said: “Certainly I feel Bermuda can become one of the most ideal countries in recorded history. But in order to do that, one has to set a principle of fairness in our daily lives, not only around this table but in schools and the workplace.

“With the introduction of universal franchise most Bermudians accept fairness as the prerequisite to success in Bermuda.

“Those against the principle find they won’t succeed in Bermuda’s future.

“On the other hand, Bermudians can’t expect a free ride. But they can expect no closed doors to opportunity.”

She also argued that the social reforms of the 1960s had not gone far enough.

In a 1987 speech to the Bermuda Insurance Institute, she said there needed to be “equal educational, employment and economic opportunities for Bermudians, which will result in full integration and a fair sharing of the financial and psychological rewards of Bermuda’s success”.

During her first stint in the Senate, she was Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs; for Health, Social Services and Housing; and for Public Works, Housing and the Environment.

She served as Parliamentary Secretary for Finance during her second period in the Upper House.

In 1989, she ran for the House of Assembly in the Progressive Labour Party stronghold of Southampton East, gaining 15 per cent of the vote.

Ms Milligan-Whyte first resigned from the Senate in 1990, citing the need to concentrate on her law practice.

In a newspaper interview at the time, she said: “I don’t think I can be an effective politician without a strong economic base.

“Right now I want to focus on building that economic base and I want to continue to look at new economic opportunities for Bermuda.”

In 1992, she was a member of the Bermuda International Business Association task force committee, which was responsible for a major overhaul of legislation governing the sector.

During the 1990s, as attorney for one of Bermuda’s telecommunications companies, Ms Milligan-Whyte helped the company to obtain its licence and raise capital from the public necessary to lay a fibre-optic cable between Bermuda and New Jersey.

Ms Milligan-Whyte also served as a commissioner for the Commission of Inquiry into Historic Land Losses in 2020.

Karen Ming, who was hired by Ms Milligan-Whyte, said: “I can remember the first day I met Lynda. I knew of her but she seemed scary to me because I was young.

“I was working for this reinsurance company and had to get something signed by her. I was a little frightened but she was so down-to-earth and so sweet.

“I then went to law school and after qualifying, sent her my resume.

“She invited me over to her office and offered me a job there and then and I’ve been with the company ever since.

“It’s like a family. Even though she was very knowledgable and powerful, she was incredibly kind. She had a strong exterior but was soft-spoken, polite, intelligent and calm.

“She was always thinking of new things to do and new business opportunities.

“She taught me a lot — to never be afraid. She would say ‘just do it’.

“She was awesome — a wonderful, inspirational woman with a generous spirit.“

• Lynda Milligan-Whyte, a corporate lawyer and former politician, was born on September 29, 1944. She died in August 2024, aged 79