always prominent . . . integrity. Ted Sayer's own integrity caused him to work hard for over 30 years to create and maintain the integrity of The Royal Gazette and, later, the Mid-Ocean News. In the vernacular, Ted Sayer would have been known as a "straight shooter''. Ask him a question and you got a straight and fair answer. He was a solid, well-trained and old fashioned newspaper editor . . . get the story, get it now, get it right and don't mess with the facts.

Ted Sayer came to Bermuda from Northamptonshire, England, as a shorthand reporter to do verbatim reports of the House of Assembly and spent his life contributing to his adopted home. Over the years Ted Sayer was a reporter, Editor of The Royal Gazette , Editor in Chief of Royal Gazette Newspapers, managing director of The Royal Gazette Ltd., and a director of The Bermuda Press (Holdings) Ltd., the parent company of The Royal Gazette Ltd.

He edited this newspaper during the dark and difficult days of the Second World War and through the tumultuous but exciting years of social change beginning in the 1950s. The integrity of The Royal Gazette and Ted Sayer's open policy on Letters to the Editor, which allowed black Bermudians to express their views on segregation, contributed considerably to Bermuda's social transition. Many of the stands he took required great courage. Ted Sayer always tried to do the right thing, whether or not anyone was watching.

It is not generally known but he was prominent in the Rotary movement in Bermuda, and resigned from Rotary in protest when members voted against integration. Under Ted Sayer's guidance and that of the Gazette manager, the late Ford Baxter, The Royal Gazette and its Reid Street stationery store were integrated years before the rest of Bermuda.

Ted was full of stories about the difficulties of publishing in war time, the secret visit of Winston Churchill, and the challenges of reporting a House of Assembly with 36 individual members. Ted fought all the way to London and won a major battle with the House of Assembly over The Royal Gazette's right not to be banned from proceedings held in public. He was proud of that.

He was also proud of the disproportionate number of Royal Gazette journalists who went on to major careers in large countries. Ted Sayer could tell you with satisfaction how well they had succeeded and he knew that Bermuda's small daily was good training. Ted demanded very high standards in his newsroom and took no nonsense.

The Royal Gazette was his life's work and he took a small colonial newspaper and turned it into a paper which won the respect of his peers in the Commonwealth Press Union. Ted Sayer was active in the CPU where he knew many of the great and the famous in the press world. Lord Astor of Hever, for many years President of the Commonwealth Press Union, was open in his view that Ted Sayer would have risen to the top of the newspaper world anywhere in the Commonwealth.

Aside from newspapers, Ted Sayer partook fully in the life of Bermuda. In charities he was president of both the Hamilton Rotary Club and the Lady Cubitt Compassionate Association and helped found Age Concern.

He served Bermuda's Government as a member of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board and the Board of Education. After he became managing director of The Royal Gazette Ltd., he served on the Employers Council. Ted Sayer and The Royal Gazette 's long time Sports Editor, the late Bernard Brown, were extensively involved in Freemasonry in Bermuda.

He was a classic example of the service and devotion given to Bermuda by a person who was not born here. Ted was deeply touched to be made an OBE by the Queen in 1970.

He was 87 when he died in early December with his daughter, Florence, and her family in Kansas. His remains will be interred this afternoon at St. Mark's Church, Smith's Parish.

As one person's obituary tribute said, Ted Sayer was a special person; special to his family, special to his work and special to Bermuda.