The legal community is mourning the death of the former Court of Appeals President Telford Georges who died in his home of Barbados last week.

Mr. Georges served on numerous Commissions of Inquiry in Bermuda over his career and died after a short illness on Thursday, January 13.

Former Chief Justice and Court of Appeals President Sir James Astwood said yesterday he ?knew him well. He was a very able and highly respected jurist.?

?It is a terrific loss to the West Indies. He was a very eminent jurist... He had a very researching mind,? Sir James said. ?He had a great capacity to do legal research?.

Born in Dominica, Mr. Georges had a long and distinguished legal career and was a Court of Appeals judge on the Island until 1994.

He headed the probe into the one-day delay in the 1995 referendum and also headed a Bermuda Crime Commission which sat between 1977 and 1978.

Mr. Georges also had a formidable legal track record ? he served as Chief Justice of the Bahamas from 1984 to 1989, Zimbabwe in 1983 and Tanzania from 1965 to 1967.

He headed a major inquiry into the Bermuda Police drugs squad and examined the policies, procedures and practices of the drugs squad and make recommendations following the controversy over the acquittal of Ellsworth Wilson on drugs charges in 1997.

Mr. Georges lived in Barbados, had four children and was married to Joyce Cole.

He was also a professor of law at the University of the West Indies (UWI) and received honorary doctorates from the University of Dar-es-Salaam, University of Toronto, UWI and Dalhousie University.

Former Attorney General, Saul Froomkin said yesterday he was ?terribly saddened? of Mr. Georges death. ?He was respected world-wide... It is a great loss to the judicial community,? he said. ?He contributed a great deal to the jurisprudence of Bermuda?.