Dear Sir,

My late husband, John Stubbs, was nominated for the award of National Hero last year, along with 23 other nominations. It was decided by the judges that none of the candidates had made a lasting and meaningful contribution to the lives of Bermudians or to the development of Bermuda. I am not contesting that John should have been granted the honour of National Hero, but I would like to state here what he did for Bermuda.

John Stubbs, MD, a born Bermudian, returned to Bermuda in 1964 after completion of his medical training in General Surgery.

Dr Stubbs was the first chairman of the United Bermuda Party under Sir Henry Tucker in 1965. He felt that it was critically important to recruit men and women from all ethnic backgrounds to run for Parliament.

The first party election was in 1968. John ran in Hamilton West with running mate Gloria McPhee against Walter Robinson (leader of the Progressive Labour Party) and “Gospel” Simmons and won. Dr Stubbs and Mrs McPhee won again in 1972, but John lost by five votes in 1976. He was appointed to the Senate and at the next election in 1981 won a seat in Paget East, where he served until his death in 1994.

1971 John spent a sabbatical year at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While there he worked with others on developing a non-governmental organisation geared towards improving healthcare delivery worldwide. In the same year, he testified before the US Senate health sub-committee regarding quality of healthcare. He organised a fact-finding tour to Britain, Israel, Denmark and Sweden, and accompanied the senator Edward Kennedy to Britain for five days, for which he earned enormous praise — it was educational and rewarding.

1971 John was a member of a team of four surgeons who conducted the first hip replacement in Bermuda.

1972 John wrote in The Royal Gazette suggesting that Bermuda’s currency be tied to the United States’, our dominant trading partner. He felt that a small country was best protected from changing economic priorities when its currency was linked to its dominant trading partner.

1973 John campaigned for the legalisation of abortion. A Private Member’s Bill was tabled by W.H. Masters. The Bill passed allowing abortion — not on demand but determined by a panel of doctors, including a psychiatric opinion, which would determine each case on its merits.

1973 John was president of medical staff at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital when the hospital received full accreditation from the Canadian Council of Hospital Accreditation for the first time. This was a significant milestone, as it meant that medical care at KEMH was compared with, and continues to be, that of much larger jurisdictions, helping to ensure that care of the highest standard is delivered.

1973 John was instrumental in establishing the mandatory crash helmet law.

1974 John was a pioneer in amputee surgery whereby a patient is immediately fitted with an artificial limb. The technique is most valuable for young traumatic amputees who can weight-bear within 48 hours, never losing the sensation of two functioning limbs.

1974 John was the first surgeon in Bermuda to harvest kidneys from a deceased patient and arrange for the kidney to be flown to the New England Organ Bank for transplant. He felt that by participating in organ harvesting, Bermudian patients in need of a kidney would have a better chance of receiving a kidney sooner.

1975 Sir Edward Richards was chairman of the Law of the Sea committee, and John was deputy chair. John proposed extending Bermuda’s territorial waters to 200 miles. Mineral resources and extended fishing rights would be to Bermuda’s advantage. The outcome was an agreement to form an International Seabed Authority.

1978 John was appointed the UBP’s spokesman at the Pitt Commission — looking into the race riots of December 1977 in the wake of the assassination of the Governor, Sir Richard Sharples, and the murders of aide-de-camp Captain Hugh Sayers (and Horsa the Great Dane), police commissioner George Duckett, businessman Victor Rego and supermarket employee Mark Doe.

1980 Appointed Minister of Planning, Housing and Environment. David Lines was the chairman of the Bermuda Housing Corporation, and together they presented the Rockaway scheme in Southampton as well as affordable housing at Devon Springs, Longford Road Condo Association, Fentons Drive Housing Development, Curving Avenue. Plus a major push to improve Pembroke city housing. These sites stand testament to John’s vision for Bermuda.

1983 John was appointed the first Minister of Industry and Technology. John’s good friend and classmate at MIT, Paul Polishuk, had been deputy director of Telecommunications Policy under President Richard Nixon in 1971 and helped John to achieve the granting of two geostationary communications satellite allocations at 26 and 95 degrees for Bermuda. After Bermuda’s success at an International Telecommunications Union meeting in Geneva, Bermuda was granted the right to launch two broadcasting satellites. The Royal Gazette headline read: “He’s the man to put Bermuda into the computer age”.

1988 Laparoscopic surgery was introduced into Bermuda by Dr Stubbs. John was invited by professor Hans Troidl, who was attending a conference in Bermuda to learn the technique in Cologne, Germany. John was convinced that laparoscopic surgery was the way forward and bought the surgical equipment himself, as the hospital refused.

1994 John presented a Private Member’s Bill decriminalising homosexual acts between consenting men of 18 years and over. He wanted to bring Bermuda in line with other countries. The Bill passed in Parliament on May 23, 1994 by 22 votes to 17. It is known today as the Stubbs Bill.

June 10, 1994 (Mid-Ocean News) A Special Report titled “Dr Stubbs battles to the end for a better Bermuda”. Dr Stubbs had the future of Bermuda at heart until he died on June 7, 1994.

ROBIN STUBBS

Pembroke