The former head of Cable and Wireless in Bermuda has been remembered as a “true professional and fierce competitor”.

Eddie Saints, who was chief executive officer of the firm for several years, died suddenly in Orlando last Friday. He was 60.

Mr Saints was born and brought up in Bermuda until his family moved to New Zealand in 1968. He returned to the island in 1984 and went on to make a major contribution to the telecommunications industry in Bermuda.

Former colleague, Craig Davis, who worked with Mr Saints for two decades at Cable and Wireless paid tribute to a man he described as his “mentor”.

“I first met Eddie in the early 1990s when I joined Cable and Wireless,” Mr Davis said. “Eddie was very energetic and passionate about the roles he took on and had a knack for finding the right people to get the job done.

“He was always committed to whatever it was he was doing and I respected him greatly as a very knowledgeable man. Eddie was also very well travelled; so there are an awful lot of people across the globe that knew him.

“At work, if I ever had something I needed to talk about he would listen.”

Meanwhile Bill Pitman, who also worked with Mr Saints at Cable and Wireless, said he was shocked to hear the news of his good friend’s sudden passing.

“He was a very good friend; and we had a great working relationship when we were at Cable and Wireless. We could have a good scrap in the office but then after work we would go out for a beer.

“Eddie worked extremely hard to get where he did and made a big contribution to telecommunications in Bermuda, but he was also an avid sailor and golfer as well as a very proud father to his two boys, Jason and Jordan.”

After returning to Bermuda in 1984 Mr Saints worked for Bermuda Office Sales and then Exxon before embarking on a career with Cable and Wireless in 1986.

He started in the IT department before rising through the ranks and becoming the firm’s CEO. Mr Saints left Bermuda to work in Guernsey in 2011 after the sale of Cable and Wireless.

Charmaine Burgess, who also worked with Mr Saints at Cable and Wireless, described her old colleague as a man of “vision and energy”.

She added: “I am shocked and saddened to hear of Eddie’s passing — I was one of his fans.

“He was a true professional and a fierce competitor with copious amounts of vision and energy. He loved to laugh. He inspired me, challenged me and made me proud to be a senior member of his senior management team at Cable and Wireless.

“He will definitely be missed. My deepest condolences and prayers go out to his family.”

• This article was amended to report that Mr Saints was 60, not 59.