A Bermudian radio personality passed away peacefully in Canada this past week after a battle with brain cancer.

Gregory “Greg” Frederick Beach died on July 17 in Moncton, New Brunswick. He was 50 years old.

Mr Beach was born on March 21, 1967, to parents Nancy Steeves, of Moncton, and the late Frederick Beach.

His passion for music began at a young age. At age 5, he first picked up the guitar, teaching himself to play before beginning proper lessons at age 8.

“My father was a baritone in the Salvation Army choir for years and the police choir after that,” he told the Mid-Ocean News during an interview in 1999.

“We always had instruments around the house.”

His love of music led him to pursue a degree in radio, broadcast sales and promotion at Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario.

He would later return to Bermuda and work at ZBM, before starting as a disc jockey at Mix 106.

Mike Bishop was station manager at VSB for 22 years, working alongside Mr Beach for roughly a dozen years between the early 90s and early 2000s.

“He had just a natural flair for the business,” Mr Bishop said of his “very, very talented” colleague.

“He was one of those people that could turn his hand to pretty much anything. He had the voice for the radio. He had an innate sense of what worked and what didn’t.”

Both Mr Beach and the station as a whole, Mr Bishop said, prided themselves on playing more music by local artists than any other stations.

“Local artists knew they could drop material off and get it played,” he said.

“If something struck a chord with him — no pun intended — he was right in there and made sure we made the most of it.”

Despite working in a deadline-driven business, pressure was not a big deal for Mr Beach, Mr Bishop added.

“He was very easygoing,” he said.

“I found him a delight to work with. He had a great sense of humour.”

Aside from music, Mr Beach cared deeply about his two daughters, Eryn and Kyra.

“He always, always, always was talking about them,” Mr Bishop said.

“That was his passion.”

Wendell Simmons, a close friend, was asked by Mr Beach’s mother to write a tribute to her son to be read at the funeral which took place on Friday in Moncton. Mr Beach had moved back to Canada in 2009.

“Anyone who met Greg and got to know him, liked him,” he said.

“He had a way of relating to everybody from all walks of life, treating everyone with the same level of kindness, respect, politeness and empathy, putting them at ease with his easy laugh and sly sense of humour.”

Mr Simmons met Mr Beach at VSB in the early 1990s. The pair — along with Donald Wellman — “over time became good friends, and eventually brothers”, Mr Simmons said.

“One of our fondest memories of him will be us jamming as the ‘Brothers Trio’ with him stomping around the rehearsal room with a big smile on his face playing amazing, wailing guitar solos, lost in music,” he said.

“We will remember Greg as the coolest, kindest, funniest, most creative and most talented brother anyone could ask for. He was truly one of a kind.”