Four top business leaders who helped to shape Bermuda have been inducted into the Bermuda Employers’ Council (BEC) new Bermuda Business Hall of Fame.

Sir Henry Tucker was selected from the 1960s, Sir David Gibbons from the 1970s, Sir John Swan from the 1980s and Brian Duperreault from the 1990s for their contributions to industry at the BEC’s annual general meeting held at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess yesterday.

The winners were nominated by the BEC, the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce, the Bermuda Hotel Association and the Association of Bermuda International Companies and chosen by a selection panel of business leaders.

They were selected based on a number of criteria including corporate performance, management and vision, inspirational leadership and business ethics and they will all be commemorated with their own plaque in City Hall.

Sir John said he was honoured to receive the award and thanked the panel for considering him worthy of such an accolade.

“I hope I live up to what would be expected of the recipients of the BEC’s Hall of Fame,” he said.

Admitting that he had an inkling he might be selected, Sir John said he had always put the Island’s needs first in both his political and business careers. “Whether it was in my political career or my business career whatever I have done was always trying to satisfy the needs of the country and its people and, yes, some of that has been commercial ventures that I have benefited from, but I still believe that they have benefited the country,” he said.

Among his milestones, Sir John cited working in the real estate sector as a young entrepreneur, building 40 percent of the homes in Bermuda for a decade, teaching and encouraging people to save money through Swan Savings and serving on various public and private sector boards and community activity programmes, prior to his election to Parliament, becoming Premier and signing the tax treaty with the US before returning to business as a developer and opening 141 Front Street.

Sir David, who was also present at the event, said he was “surprised and flattered” to have been chosen as one of the first inductees in recognition of his achievements.

Sir Henry’s award was collected by his son Robert Tucker. Rees Fletcher, chief executive officer of Ace Bermuda, picked up Mr Duperreault’s award on his behalf due to his not being able to attend. Mr Duperreault is the CEO of New York-based global insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Cos.