has "been synonymous'' with their good works. Frank Charles Gamble died yesterday morning of a massive coronary. He was 76 years old.

Mr. Gamble served as Director of the Bermuda Red Cross from 1985 to 1999.

Red Cross colleagues offered high praise yesterday for the man who gave so generously of his time and money in assisting both the local and global Red Cross organisations.

While Mr. Gamble had been ill with a heart condition for many years, his death came as a shock to those who worked closely with him right up to the end.

"He'd been up and down for a long time but we always expected him to bounce back,'' said current Red Cross director Ann Spencer-Arscott.

She told the Royal Gazette that both Monday morning and afternoon Mr. Gamble had been in the Red Cross office, still giving diligently of his time and support. "He was still on the board and came in every day,'' she said.

Recently Mr. Gamble had been assisting in the Red Cross' relocation to a new building on Berry Hill -- a move facilitated by the capital campaign he launched in 1995.

Mrs. Spencer-Arscott said that the office has been receiving floods of e-mails from around the world saying how much Mr. Gamble would be missed.

"His name has essentially been synonymous with the Bermuda Red Cross, he was such a dedicated volunteer,'' she said. And she pointed out that he had played a significant role in establishing and strengthening the organisation's linkages with the Caribbean.

The relief efforts he participated in through his Red Cross commitment were scattered throughout the Caribbean -- in Jamaica after Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, in Montserrat after Hurricane Hugo in 1989, in both Montserrat and Antigua after 1995's Hurricane Luis.

Mr. Gamble never received any remuneration for the giant role he played, Mrs.

Spencer-Arscott pointed out. "He helped a lot of people and he never expected any recognition,'' she said.

But Mr. Gamble's good works did earn him local recognition. In June, 1989, he was awarded the Queen's Certificate and Badge of Honour and he found himself on the Queen's Honour List in 1997, receiving an MBE.

The chairman of the Red Cross Donor programme, Barbara Cooper, said it was hard to express in words how much the loss of Mr. Gamble would mean to the organisation. "He was totally committed and dedicated to the objectives of the Red Cross,'' she said.

And his death had hit her on a personal level as well. "He and his wife have been personal friends to many of us,'' she said.

Chairman of the board, Colin Young echoed the praise of his colleagues. "He was most dedicated to his work here in the Bermuda Red Cross since he retired from Purvis Limited,'' said Mr. Young. "He gave entirely of his time and energy, continually for the last 15 to 17 years.'' Mr. Young explained that it was Mr. Gamble who drew him into work with the Red Cross roughly seven years ago.

"Life sometimes seems to go full circle,'' said Mr. Young who had known Mr.

Gamble since the age of eight when the two were both members of the Trinity Sunday School choir at Bermuda Cathedral.

"We both went on to attend Saltus and when we finished Saltus the war years saw us go our separate ways into the armed forces. When we returned to Bermuda our business interests took us in separate directions, but after both of us retired, he approached me about joining the Red Cross in a fund-raising capacity so we came back together again.'' "Over the last seven years we worked very closely again, right up to last week when we were calling on funders. So we really came full circle.'' Mr. Gamble is survived by his wife Edna and two children, Alan and Sheila.