Former Hinson’s Island resident William Stevenson, author of the best-selling A Man Called Intrepid, died on Tuesday evening at his home in Toronto. He was 89 years old.

The British-born Canadian author and journalist was best known for his 1976 biography of near-namesake Sir William Stephenson — code-named Intrepid — a legendary World War Two spymaster who retired to Bermuda in the early 1960s.

Mr Stevenson’s A Man Called Intrepid topped international best-seller lists for months and was turned into a TV miniseries starring David Niven in the title role.

“Dad’s was a remarkable life,” said son Andrew Stevenson, founder of the Bermuda Humpback Whale Project. “He was the son of a Scottish merchant marine sailor and a French mother; he lost his mother and left school at 13 to help his father support his three younger siblings. Recruited at 17 into Britain’s Fleet Air Arm, he was trained in Canada as a fighter pilot in World War Two, graduating from Gypsy Moths to Hurricanes and Marine Spitfires.

“He met my mother at 21, married her and after the war, emigrated to Canada to work as a reporter. Within a few years he became one of Canada’s first foreign correspondents, posted to Hong Kong for six years before taking assignments in India, Kenya, London and Malaysia.”

Mr Stevenson later worked as a producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation before moving to Bermuda with his family in the 1970s to conduct research for A Man Called Intrepid.

Shortly after Intrepid was released, he wrote 90 Minutes at Entebbe — the story of the audacious 1976 Israeli commando mission to rescue hijacked airline passengers being held hostage by terrorists in Uganda — which rose to number one on the New York Times best-seller list.

Mr Stevenson also wrote the children’s classic The Bushbabies, adapted into a major motion picture in 1965 and later a Japanese television series.

“He was a great dad — adventurous, affectionate, supportive, and a great inspiration,” said Andrew Stevenson. “Last year his autobiography, Past to Present: A Reporter’s Story of War, Spies, People, and Politics, was published, a poetic account of his remarkable career and life. He’ll be very much missed by us all.”

Aside from his son Andrew, Mr Stevenson is survived by his second wife, Monika, and daughters Jackie, Sally and Alexandra. He was predeceased by his son, Kevin, former president of The Bermudian Publishing Company.