Tributes were paid this weekend to former Tourism Minister, Olympic sailor and international photographer deForest (Shorty) Trimingham who has died at the age of 87.

Mr. Trimingham passed away at his Paget home on Friday morning after battling acute leukaemia. His daughter Barrie (Pamela) Trimingham, 60, described him last night as “larger than life, a wonderful character”.

“He so loved Bermuda and really his passing, as it is with many Bermudians of his generation, it’s the passing of an era,” she told The Royal Gazette. “He was much loved by many people all over the world.”

Mr. Trimingham’s widow Dot (Dorothy), 83, said: “He was very active, very keen. He had a very strong moral character.”

Mr. Trimingham was born on December 23, 1919, to one of Bermuda’s oldest and best-known families.

He studied at the Avon Old Farms boarding school in the US and attended the University of Virginia. During the Second World War, he tracked ships in the States for the British Ministry of War Transport before returning to the Island.

Here he joined the family retail business, working in merchandising and travelling to Europe and Asia extensively. He entered politics as a Member of Parliament for the United Bermuda Party in 1958 and served until 1980. He was the first Minister for Tourism after Bermuda’s Constitution was adopted, and served from 1972-1977. His father Kenneth performed the same role as a member of the House of Legislature.

Mr. Trimingham was a world-renowned sailor who represented Bermuda in the 1960 Olympics in Italy; the Admiral’s cup in his Frers-designed Wizard of Paget in 1969, 1971 and 1973; the Bermuda Race; and he also became the first non-Englishman to win the Prince of Wales Cup in 1954 in his 14-foot Dinghy, Barilea> Mr. Trimingham was Commodore of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club from 1952 to 1954, and until his death was the longest surviving Commodore. He was awarded the CBE for his services to the country.

“Although small in size, he was a giant in stature, and will be sadly missed by his beloved wife Dot and the entire Royal Bermuda Yacht Club family,” commodore Andrew Cox said.

After retiring from Triminghams and politics, his passion for photography, developed as a youngster, came to the fore. He travelled all over the world for his art, held exhibitions here and overseas and published a book of Buddhist images in 1998.

Former Premier Sir John Swan, Mr. Trimingham’s UBP running mate in Paget East, said yesterday: “Shorty was short in height but tall in stature and in what he believed in. He served Bermuda well.

“I was always very impressed with him.

“He always shared his thoughts very frankly, honestly and we are really losing a landmark of an individual. He personified a broad range of Bermuda activities and did them all with great gusto and enthusiasm.”

Former UBP Minister Quinton Edness said: “We were friends for many, many years. He made a tremendous contribution to Bermuda and to the Bermuda that we now know today. He loved Bermuda and he was an icon.”

Former Tourism Minister Jim Woolridge, who succeeded Mr. Trimingham in the role in 1977, said: “He was very, very much dedicated to tourism. The business that his family owned for years and started was a symbol of the type of quality that Shorty promoted. He was amongst those people that believed Bermuda was a very special place.” Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell said: “He was one of the architects of the tourism success that we enjoyed for many years. He was, in my view, a real soldier of Bermuda’s tourism period in the early days.”

Deputy Opposition Leader Michael Dunkley said he had sought advice from Mr. Trimingham over the years. “I had the greatest respect for him.

“We were different generations but I was well aware of the service that he had given and the countless hours that he put in for the party and the people of Bermuda.”

Mr. Trimingham has three grandsons: Stephen, Peter and Thomas Van Dyck. A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, April 10 at St. Paul’s Church in Paget at 4 p.m. Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club’s junior sailing programme, Bermuda National Trust and P.A.L.S cancer care charity.