Bermudian businessman John Massa?s life was celebrated yesterday by his family and friends at a funeral service in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario in Canada.

And the family of the father of four and grandfather of three will be holding a service in Bermuda at a later date to ?celebrate his life?.

Mr. Massa died this week at the age of 60, after succumbing to cancer. He had held the post of General Manager at Bermuda Bakery before stepping down for health reasons in December.

?He always had a twinkle in his eye, and was easy going,? said his son John David from Canada this week. ?He had fun wherever he was and if people started gossiping, he had no use for it, which is strange nowadays.?

?He was the most giving person I have ever met, and I never heard him say a bad word about anybody.?

Mr. Massa was the eldest son of Bernadine and Alvaro Repose Massa, who were originally from the Azores, and he was born in Paget on November 18, 1943 and christened John Herbert. He went to Dellwood Primary School before moving on to Saltus Grammar School and spent his senior years at Mount St. Agnes.

Mr. Massa served 4 years in the Bermuda Cadet Corps and was well known as a bass drummer for the Bermuda Islands Pipe and Drum Corps.

He left Bermuda in 1961 to study pre-Engineering at St. Francis Xavier in Antigonish, Nova Scotia and graduated in 1964. After this he moved on to the Technical University of Nova Scotia (Halifax) to complete his engineering studies and graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1966.

During his two years at Tech he met and fell in love with Pat Crowe and the couple were married during his graduation year in 1966.

The couple met at party in Nova Scotia during his college years, where she had a job on campus. The couple shared a love of travel and spent many years going between Bermuda and Canada. They both enjoyed sailing and took to the high seas on sail boats in both Canada and Bermuda and spent many summers sailing with sister Beatrice Kuligowska (nee Massa).

He was very close to his sister, who has three daughters, Jennifer, Jillian and Ilona, who were all very close to their uncle.

During his time studying in Nova Scotia he was involved in the drama club and was a keen amateur actor and singer.

After graduation in 1966, he moved to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to begin working at the Algoma Steel Corporation in the sales and marketing department. It was during his time at Algoma Steel that he found he was passionate about marketing and business and began studying to make a career in this field and completed his MBA at Lake Superior State College.

He worked for Algoma Steel for a total of 23 years before leaving to take up a marketing position with Centra Gas where he worked for ten years before returning to Bermuda.

On his return to his home, he took up the post of general manager of the Bermuda Bakery, where he worked for four years. He was due to retire after his 60th birthday, but fell ill before he could enjoy his retirement.

During his years both in Canada and Bermuda he was actively involved in the Catholic Church and the community and was a member of various organisations including Telecare, Rotary, Home Builders Association and Council Partners.

He and his wife had four children, all born in Canada. Three out of the four children returned to Bermuda, where they have made the Island their home and established their careers. Christine Mihelcic (husband John) is the director of Dolphin Quest, Kathryn Massa is the project manager at Bermuda International Business Association and John David (wife Kelly) is legal counsel at Bank of Bermuda. His other son, Michael Massa, lives and works in Collingwood, Ontario. His family said he had a true love of the ocean, music and the arts and all things Bermudian, and will be sorely missed. He is survived by his wife, four children and three grandchildren Adam, Jessica and Matthew and his sister Beatrice.