Robert A. Farmer, a former United States Consul General to Bermuda famed as a top fundraiser for the Democratic Party, has died at the age of 78.

Described by President Bill Clinton as a man who could “talk an owl out of a tree”, Mr Farmer — known to locals as Bob — was hailed by US Consul General Mary Ellen Koenig as “enormously popular” in his post from 1994 to 1999.

“I have met many Bermudians and others who speak of him with affection and admiration,” Ms Koenig said. “He clearly loved his tenure here and worked effectively to promote and protect the strong ties between the United States and Bermuda.”

Mr Farmer earned a place in American political history, starting with his service as treasurer for four presidential campaigns: John Glenn in 1984, Michael Dukakis in 1988, Clinton in 1992 and John Kerry in 2004. Elected treasurer of the Democratic National Committee in 1989, he stepped down to mastermind the financing of the successful Clinton campaign, and was posted to the island — one of the few political diplomatic appointments in the US system —­ for three years in 1994.

It ended up substantially longer than the usual term: “I love it here and I’m happy to stay as long as they need me,” Mr Farmer told The Royal Gazette in 1998.

“No other Consul General — and certainly no other Bermudian public figure in recent times — has managed to make so many friends and such a wide range of contacts throughout Bermuda,” this newspaper wrote upon his departure from the island.

Mr Farmer won friends here during the return of US Base lands, and his term was also marked by the sale of the 14-acre “Chelston” estate in Paget, previously the official residence of the US Consul General, as the State Department cut its costs.

Mr Farmer was tipped as an early supporter of Mr Kerry’s presidential ambitions when he stepped down from the Bermuda post in 1999. He declined a prominent fundraising role in the presidential campaign of Al Gore.

He was famed for tapping into little-regulated political donations from wealthy patrons, or “soft money” as it was known in the US press.

In 2000, he came out as gay for The Advocate, and in 2013 Mr Farmer married Thomas Winston, his partner of 13 years. Mr Farmer died on Saturday in Miami, from pancreatic cancer.