A longstanding principal of Sandys Secondary Middle School spent much of his life in education as a teacher and champion of school reforms in Bermuda.

Melvyn Bassett threw himself into roles that included presiding over the Association of School Principals, serving as vice-chairman of the Bermuda Middle School Association and contributing passages to school textbooks.

He was also a prominent opponent of same-sex marriage.

Dr Bassett’s contributions were recognised yesterday in the House of Assembly, with David Burt, the Premier, offering condolences after his “untimely passing” this week.

Dennis Lister, the Speaker of the House, told MPs that “as a Somerset fellow, I have a long history and relationship with Mr Bassett, going back to my early years and later, when my wife and I came back to Bermuda and she taught at Sandys”.

The Reverend Emily Gail Dill, a government MP for Sandys North, called him “an outstanding educator and community leader” who had been “an inspiration and mentor”.

She highlighted Dr Bassett’s recent work in the reintroduction of the child evangelism fellowship.

Dr Bassett’s list of service in local and international committees and organisations was prodigious.

His contributions ranged from the Bermuda National Youth Jazz Ensemble and the Bermuda National Education Council to his work on the National Education Planning Team and the Bermuda Education Strategic Team.

His work with the prison fellowship informed his service on the 1993 Tumim Commission, which investigated policing and the criminal justice system and produced a report of its findings and recommendations.

Dr Bassett served on the Archibald Drug Commission, the Police Advisory Committee and the steering committee of the National Drug Commission.

He was a director of the International Learning Styles Network Board, a founding member of the Bermuda Affiliate of the National Alliance of Black School Educators, headquartered in Washington, and made extensive contributions to the Bermuda College.

Dr Bassett was recognised for his contributions in the Queen's 2008 New Year's Honours List.

He was a prominent and occasionally outspoken proponent of education reforms during the 1990s and spoke often on the imperative for parents to lead the way in their children’s healthy development.

He was devoted to setting a high standard throughout his career at Sandys Secondary Middle School.

“When students enter on day one, they will feel an inviting environment and atmosphere,” he said in a 1997 interview.

“They are going to be nurtured by a team of teachers. There will be team leaders and they will take responsibility for development of the child, academically, spiritually and emotionally.”

One of Dr Bassett’s regrets was the failure of the Sandys 360 athletic complex, an ambitious sports centre in Somerset that was the pride of its community when it opened to fanfare in 2009.

It collapsed from debt despite assistance with government grants after only a few years in operation.

Dr Bassett, who served as managing director at Sandys 360, told The Royal Gazettein 2011 that the facility had struggled financially “from the time that we opened our doors”.

Despite restructuring and cutting its losses, Sandys 360 closed in 2013.

Dr Bassett’s strong convictions occasionally drew unwanted attention.

He refused to back down on his school’s policy regarding dreadlocks in 1996, which led to a student publicly striking him during a graduation ceremony.

The matter ended with the former student’s conviction in court.

Dr Bassett drew controversy in 2015 as a founding member and chairman of the group Preserve Marriage, which campaigned against the movement to make same-sex marriage legal on the island.

The group, which achieved and then lost charity status, won praise as well as condemnation over its stance against same-sex marriage, which failed to win popular support in a 2016 referendum.

Same-sex marriage had a tangled history — never becoming law, but briefly permitted under a court ruling that was appealed by the Bermuda Government and finally overturned in 2022 by the Privy Council.

Melvyn Eugene Bassett, a former principal at Sandys Secondary Middle School, was born on September 1, 1947. He died in May 2025, aged 77