The former head of one of the island’s retail giants went on to create, with his wife and US business partner, an American craft beer with a Bermudian spin.

Roderick Ferguson III, the former Gorham’s general manager and director, founded the Devils Backbone brewery in Virginia with his wife, Martha. The business was sold in 2016 to the global brewing giant Anheuser-Busch, the owner of Budweiser.

Mrs Ferguson told The Royal Gazette that the couple met during college in New Jersey when she was studying to be a teacher at Trenton State and Mr Ferguson, a Saltus graduate, was at Princeton, studying English.

When she went off to travel in Europe, “Rod had a letter waiting for me at every stop on the itinerary”, she said. “It was very, very poetic.”

She said Mr Ferguson was a refreshing break from the Ivy League snobbery of Princeton and was “very fair, very likeable”.

However, Mr Ferguson also loved Princeton, habitually mentioning Bermuda first and his college second.

In later life, he contributed as an alumnus and attended Princeton reunions.

The couple married in 1969 within a week of their respective graduations.

When Mr Ferguson headed for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to study for his master of business administration degree, his new wife, who had qualified as a maths teacher, followed.

“I drew a circle around Ann Arbor and wrote to all the boards of education,” Mrs Ferguson said. “I got a lot of offers.”

Mr Ferguson, a Bermudian, could not get work in the US and the Vietnam War overshadowed life in the country. The couple came to Bermuda in the summer of 1970 and Mr Ferguson found work at a bank.

At it happened, the Gorham Lumber Company advertised for someone with an MBA.

Mr Ferguson interviewed for a job there and was told “they wanted someone right away”, his wife said.

However, for their promising new candidate, the company was prepared to wait a year.

Mr Ferguson joined Gorham’s in 1971 as assistant general manager — effectively as the general manager designate — and took over from Pat Wilkie in the role five years later.

The business, which had recently moved to St John’s Road, underwent a massive overhaul and later expanded its hardware and other product lines, driven by its affiliation with the True Value company.

Mrs Ferguson said: “Gorham’s just sold nails and lumber. Rod’s legacy is the store that is now the largest retail operation on the island.

“He was proud and I am too; it’s such a great store.”

“He loved it — the buying, the selling, everything,” she added.

The Devils Backbone Brewing Company was an example of his ability to pivot.

The couple sought a holiday home in Wintergreen, Virginia, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and Mr Ferguson and their builder, Steve Crandall, decided to go into the housebuilding business together.

They then followed through on Mr Crandall’s dream of operating a restaurant, with a microbrewery attached. The business took off, racking up awards and opening up opportunities for expansion.

“It’s very exciting — it’s nothing like selling hardware,” Mr Ferguson told The Royal Gazette.

Devils Backbone, which takes its name from the ridgeline in the Virginia highlands, set up shop in Lexington and proved a hit.

“We’d go to a bar and there would be our beer on tap,” Mrs Ferguson said.

The couple’s fun side and charitable spirit was on show in 2006 when they set their sights on the Guinness Book of Records by creating the world’s biggest ever raft-up.

The venture was unsuccessful — but entertaining.

The couple, who were married for 55 years, had two children, Emily and Roderick.

His son launched a landmark legal action for same-sex marriage after the Domestic Partnership Act of 2018.

The marriage equality case, which ultimately was unsuccessful in 2022, was fought all the way to the Privy Council in Britain.

“Rod said he was very, very happy that his father supported him 100 per cent,” Mrs Ferguson said. “We always have. He was a great father.”

Roderick Alexander Ferguson III was born on May 28, 1947. He died in January 2025, aged 77