Veteran hotelier, tourism advocate and community activist W.A. ‘Toppy’ Cowen has died at the age of 78.

Mr Cowen, who managed the Pink Beach Club for 20 years, died on Wednesday in Kelowna, British Columbia, where he lived for the last five years of his life.

The son of lighthouse keeper Rudolph Cowen, Mr Cowen was born in what is now the tea room of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse.

After attending Port Royal School, and the Commercial School in Southampton, he went into the restaurant business, eventually running Windjammer Restaurant — now the Henry VIII pub and restaurant.

He also worked as a stock boy at Mid Ocean Club, eventually becoming the prestigious resort’s general manager. That was followed by a stint as general manager of Port Royal Golf Course. Golf remained a passion throughout his life.

But it was at the Pink Beach Club and Cottages in Tucker’s Town that Mr Cowen made his name as a top hotelier. As managing director, he was at the helm of one of the Island’s most exclusive resorts during tourism’s boom years of the 1980s.

And it was his talent for hospitality that enabled him to pull off one of the most successful tourism marketing campaigns in Bermuda history. US talk show host David Letterman stayed at the Pink Beach Club in the early 1980s and was so charmed by his host that he would regularly phone up Mr Cowen for a chat during his popular ‘Late Night With David Letterman’ television shows.

Retiring from Pink Beach Club in 1997, Mr Cowen said: “I love tourism. I wouldn’t know what else to do. I sleep it, I eat it. I will miss the operational challenges of this cottage colony and the love for tourism, but most importantly the people that I have worked with. They are the ones who have helped to create the success story of this hotel.”

It was therefore not surprising that, in retirement, Mr Cowen remained just as active — and perhaps even more high-profile — than he had been in his working life.

Within months of quitting work he was appointed chairman of the Visitors Industry Partnership, and also served as Hamilton Rotary Club President for several years. He worked tirelessly for the redevelopment of Flatts, was chairman of the eastern division of the Police Consultative Committee and the Eliza Doolittle Society, and in recent years campaigned successfully for renovations to his beloved childhood home, Gibbs Hill Lighthouse.

And he was a frequent and often outspoken writer of letters to the editor of The Royal Gazette. A 1997 Mid-Ocean News feature interview with Mr Cowen described him as “a hard-hitting spokesman on tourism” who was “never afraid to give an opinion on hard subjects, regardless of whose nose might find its self out of joint as a result”.

He was awarded the Queen’s Certificate and Badge of Honour in 2004.

Mr Cowen moved to British Columbia in 2009 for health reasons. Last night his daughter, Heidi, told The Royal Gazette: “Many think that my father deserted Bermuda, but it never left his heart. It was just that illness made him unable to be a part of a country that he loved so much.

“His plan was to retire, climb mountains and enjoy life. Every morning however, coffee was had over the reading of The Royal Gazette and Bernews online. He wrote to people. He debated with Bermudians. He pushed for change and understanding.

“Although his letters to the newspaper became slower with illness, he never lost sight of what it took to make a better Bermuda. With a long and hard battle with cancer, many of his dreams didn’t come true, but we have never seen one man fight so hard, never complaining, always making sure that his family was happy and taken care of, and offering encouragement even in his last hours.

“Bermuda has lost a great soldier. If there was one thing that we learned from Toppy Cowen is to keep striving forward, and never give up.”

Former Tourism Minister Jim Woolridge also paid tribute to a man he described as “a great friend”.

“It was only natural that he would become involved in the Tourism industry because his father was one of the chief keepers of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse and so Toppy grew up knowing how important it was to be helpful and courteous to our visitors,” Mr Woolridge said.

“He lived in the area that I represented as an MP for 33 years and I know that Toppy was always very hard working when it came to Bermuda and tourism. He was very much an activist. There are a lot of people out there but very few of them are willing to actually get hands-on when it comes to doing the hard work and that’s what Toppy did. He will be greatly missed — he was such a hard worker.”

Other tributes have appeared on Mr Cowen’s Facebook page.

A statement from Port Royal Golf Course read: “Toppy was the second general manager at Port Royal Golf Course in the mid 70s. The trustees, management and staff past and present owe a debt of gratitude to the good stewardship provided by Toppy.”

Chamber of Commerce President Ronnie Viera wrote: “Very sad news indeed. Mr Cowen was a key player in the islands tourism industry for many years and certainly cared about Bermuda very much.”

And Government Senator Nalton Brangman described Mr Cowen as “an outstanding and passionate believer in tourism and our island home — a great loss indeed”.

Mr Cowen is survived by his wife, Saundra, son Ricky and daughters Heather and Heidi, as well as brothers, sister and grandchildren.

A memorial service for Mr Cowen will be held at Hamilton Cathedral on April 26.