Former Premier Ewart Brown has paid tribute to hotelier Reginald (Toby) Dillas, who has died at the age of 76.

Dr Brown said in a statement this morning: “Toby Dillas was my boss at the Bermudiana hotel when I worked there as a waiter in the sixties. Over the years we became closer and I sought his opinion on hospitality issues when I served as Tourism and Transport Minister.

“Toby was Mr. Bermuda. Wherever I travelled on behalf of the BDOT (Bermuda Department of Tourism, people always asked about ‘that guy Toby Dillas’. Even after his retirement, Toby always did what he could for his island home. He was a bright light.”

The former Progressive Labour Party leader said he and his wife Wanda joined “countless others” in expressing their sympathy to Mr Dillas’s widow Lauren and the rest of his family.

Mr Dillas, who lived in Florida with his wife, died after a short illness.

A manager for the Trusthouse Forté Group, he mentored many Bermudians in the tourism industry and was one of the first locals to head up the iconic Bermudiana Hotel in Hamilton, where he served as an assistant manager.

He worked as director of sales and marketing for the Bermudiana, Belmont and Harmony Club Properties.

Mr Dillas held positions on several key committees, including the Bermuda Hotel Association. He was vice-president of the Hotel Employers of Bermuda, belonging also to the Employers’ Council and the Defence Exemption Tribunal.

He was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1987. Retiring from the private sector in 1989, Mr Dillas went on to serve in Boston as regional manager for the Bermuda Department of Tourism in New England and, later, as North American director of sales, based in New York, until he stepped down in 2003.