A pastor devoted to helping others built a legacy of “humble successes” through the charity Willing Workers of Bermuda.

Samuel Lynch had a simple explanation for the driving force behind his charitable work.

“I’m a human being,” he said in a 2003 interview with the Mid-Ocean News. “People might not realise this but all of us are related in one way or the other.

“I believe in God, that God made us. There is a saying that no man is an island — that we cannot live by ourselves or for ourselves.

“I gain happiness, I feel good, by helping others. By doing that I feel that I’ve accomplished something. I don’t feel that a person should be selfish. I feel that we should help each other, especially those persons who are in need.”

The group, where Mr Lynch served as vice-president, worked in Bermuda’s prisons and continued to give support to former inmates after their release.

The charity helped people struggling with addiction.

Willing Workers of Bermuda was also active in the community at large, including holding workshops and lectures for the public, and travelling to assist the needy abroad.

Mr Lynch’s charitable work extended to helping the homeless and growing vegetables to donate to Teen Haven.

He was an elder at the Devonshire Seventh-Day Adventist Church and travelled to do missionary work. Many knew him as “pastor” for his time spent in prayer with others.

Mr Lynch and the others in the charity made a point of keeping to the background with their philanthropy.

“We do things quietly,” he said. “We’re not out there in the public, broadcasting we’ve done this or we’ve done that.

“We’ve been working for a long time but many people don’t know about us. However, now and then we’ll come to the front to let people know what we’re doing.”

Samuel Nathaniel Lynch, a missionary and elder at the Devonshire Seventh-Day Adventist Church, was born on April 18, 1945. He died in April 2025, aged 80