Small in size but highly sophisticated, Bermuda calls on its sons and daughters to contribute in many different ways to the community in the course of their lives. Most answer the call, and some prove to be true Renaissance men and women, gaining an expertise in a wide range of subjects that are often completely unrelated to their professions.

Stanley Ratteray was one such man and with his passing, Bermuda has lost one of the giants of the last half century, a man who had a passion for politics, music, art, his profession (dentistry) and his family and friends. Above all, he had a passion for Bermuda, for which he sacrificed much and from which he received far less credit than he deserved.

Raised in the West End, he finished his secondary schooling at Sandys Secondary and went on to Canada to pursue his professional qualification in dentistry, a rare accomplishment for a black Bermudian in the 1950s.

Having experienced life as a student in a desegregated society, Dr. Ratteray returned to still segregated Bermuda and with a small group of black professionals known as the Progressive Group, initiated the Theatre Boycott that began to tear down the walls of segregation and put Bermuda on the road to becoming a true democracy.

Due to the risks of retribution, the group's membership remained a secret and it has only been in the last few years that the general community became aware of who was involved. That is part of the reason that Stanley Ratteray has not received the credit he deserved for his part in changing Bermuda. It is hard to avoid the feeling that it may also have been caused by his subsequent decision, once universal adult suffrage was well on its way to being established, to join the still very new United Bermuda Party, rather than the largely black Progressive Labour Party.

For that decision, Dr. Ratteray received more than his share of abuse and vitriol. But for him and other young black Bermudians like Quinton Edness, Clarence James and C.V. (Jim) Woolridge, the point of ending desegregation and introducing universal adult suffrage was about being free to exercise one's own conscience, not about having a "black" or "white" political point of view.

Naturally conservative once the battle for the vote was over, Dr. Ratteray was also a fervent believer in integration and with his close friend the late Dr. John Stubbs, believed Bermuda's races had to learn to live and work together happily if the Island was to succeed and prosper. Thus it should have come as no surprise to see them join forces as the UBP was turned from a loose coalition of hitherto independent politicians into a viable modern political party.

While Sir Henry Tucker and Sir Edward Richards were the parliamentary leaders of the UBP, Dr. Stubbs and Dr..Ratteray were the people behind the scenes who built a racially integrated and forward looking party that would hold power, essentially on their model, for 30 years.

When the UBP was re-elected in 1968, Dr. Ratteray was called on to desegregate the Island's Government schools, a politically delicate task that was essential if Bermuda was to become a truly integrated society. At some personal and political cost, he achieved the task, and that should stand as an equal accomplishment alongside the theatre boycott.

Elsewhere, more of his accomplishments are reported on more fully, from his involvement in planning and the environment to the Bermuda Festival, which he led for many years. But what should be remembered is that Stanley Ratteray was a dedicated son of this Island who will be sorely missed.