Norman Furtado, the Mid Ocean Club superintendent, has lost a two-year battle with a rare form of leukaemia.

One of local golf’s most dedicated servants died in England on September 20.

Interment of his ashes will follow a home-going service tomorrow at St George’s Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Superlatives such as “easy going”, “passionate” and “diligent” have been used to describe Furtado, who is largely credited for Mid Ocean being transformed into a “world-class” golf course.

“A lot of the improvements people have seen at Mid Ocean becoming a top course and hosting the Gillette Tour Challenge Championship and PGA Grand Slam of Golf were possible because of the leadership of Norman with the support of the board,” Michael Dunkley, the Premier and former Mid Ocean Club president, said.

“No task was too great for him and he had those courses in excellent condition. He improved them to the point to be a world-class golf course and had them in excellent condition for the members as well as those tournaments.

“When he dealt with the agronomist, whether it was for the PGA Tour or whoever, they always spoke with the highest regard for him. To me he was a leader, not only in Bermuda in his field, but certainly in North America.”

Mid Ocean hosted the Gillette Tour Challenge Championship in the late Nineties and PGA Grand Slam of Golf in 2007 and 2008.

During a stint as Mid Ocean’s chairman of agronomy, the Premier struck up a good working relationship with Furtado.

“When he became the superintendent at Mid Ocean shortly after that I became the chairman of agronomy so I had a very close working relationship with him,” the Premier said.

“I always found him to be a most knowledgeable and diligent person. He was the type of guy that, while he was responsible for supervising and managing the golf course and all the staff under him, he was the type of guy you would never be surprised to see on the tractor cutting grass, or in the bunker reconfiguring the bunker or doing any job.

“He was always in the trenches with the people he worked with. That was his attitude.

“He had a lot of energy, was conscientious in everything he did and he led by example. He was the easiest guy to work for because he was always there and had such a passion for all he did.

“I think Bermuda was blessed to have somebody like that work at a golf course and share his knowledge throughout Bermuda and overseas. He is a big miss to Mid Ocean and Bermuda.”