Friends and family are celebrating the life of a kind and witty lover of the arts and history.

Henry David Warrington Laing, of Paget, who was fondly remembered as having a great sense of humour, has died at the age of 80.

“He was very involved in the church,” Nicholas Glynn, Mr Laing’s nephew, said. “He loved old buildings, the history of Bermuda and the arts.”

“He was generous, kind, funny and very humorous. He never had a bad word to say.”

Mr Glynn said his uncle was still “cracking jokes” even after he had fallen ill, adding that “he always had a wry comment — he had a great sense of humour”.

He said Mr Laing was also involved with the Bermuda Maritime Museum, now the National Museum of Bermuda, the Bermuda National Gallery and Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art.

Mr Laing was also devoted to his church and was buried at the Old Devonshire Church on Thursday.

“He was a church warden down there for a long time,” Mr Glynn said. “He was very instrumental in helping to rebuild the old church.”

He also spent a long time restoring Rose Cottage in Smith’s — where his grandmother was born and which had fallen into ruin — as close to the original as possible. Mr Laing went to Saltus Grammar School before attending the Radley College in England.

He studied at Western University in Canada and worked as a shipping agent at Watlington and Conyers upon his return to Bermuda.

Later on in his career, he moved to Wilkinson Estates, the parent company of the Crystal Caves, where he worked as the general manager for 20 years.

Debbie Ray, the manager of Wilkinson Estates, said: “I would best describe Henry Laing as a gentle man from yesteryear: a compassionate man with a rich, but dry sense of humour.

“Henry was held in great regard by all of us at Wilkinson Estates Limited, as well as the entire staff of the Crystal Caves of Bermuda for the quality and integrity of his work as well as his strength of personal character.

“He was a man we all admired, as well as liked, for his sterling qualities. We have all lost a good friend.”

John Barritt, of whom Mr Laing was a constituent when he was an MP, added: “He was a very kind and generous man with a lovely, dry sense of humour, which he used to make his point. He had a wonderful knack for making people feel that he was keenly interested in them and what they were doing.”