A ‘Son of the Soil’ was remembered yesterday as national flags were flown at half mast across Bermuda.

Government buildings and Bermuda College lowered their ensigns in honour of Dr. Pauulu Kamarakafego (Roosevelt Brown), who died on Tuesday at the age of 75. Augustus Funeral Home is to finalise the funeral arrangements but it is understood that Dr. Kamarakafego left personal instructions with his Power of Attorney.

Dr. Kamarakafego, of Middle Road, Southampton, died at a friend’s home after receiving palliative care at Agape House following a short illness.

Tributes have been pouring in from across Bermuda and the world for the civil rights campaigner, United Nations development officer and ecological engineer. Dr. Kamarakafego led the fight for ‘one person, one vote’ as chairman of the Committee for Universal Adult Suffrage in the early 1960s. Yesterday black activist and author of ‘Second Class Citizens, First Class Men’, Dr.; Eva Hodgson paid tribute to her peer.

She said: “I had a warm relationship with Roosevelt Brown. It was as a direct result that in 1968, when I published ‘Second Class Citizens, First Class Men’, it was the first time his contribution to the Committee for Universal Adult Suffrage was acknowledged in a public fashion. “The reason he appreciated it was at that time the environment in Bermuda was so hostile to him. He said he could not even find employment.

“However he did end up having a career through the UN.”

Dr. Hodgson, co-founder of the National Association of Reconciliation, said: “Roosevelt Brown was a very non-conformist person in a lot of ways and in a conservative environment that takes a lot of courage. In every country and society in which he lived, he challenged the authorities because of his own perceptions and approaches.”

Dr. Kamarakafego - full name Dr. Pauulu Roosevelt Osiris Nelson Brown Kamarakafego - fathered a rainbow family of children across the world.

They are: Suzanne Darrell of Bermuda; Wendy Browne of Canada; Ghrandu, Moulbo and Flumo Kamarakafego of Liberia; Tchilumba Kamarakafego of Democratic Republic of Congo; Tchilumbo Kamarakafego of Zanzibar; Keibu and Ronniba Kamarakafego of Kenya; Baizum of Vanuatu; Carla Kamarakafego of Nicaragua; Catherine Mckinley of Costa Rica; and Mahatma Kamarakafego of Nicaragua.

He was also brother to Irene Maybury, Egbert Brown, Dianne Gumbs, the late William ‘Sonny’ Brown, Virginia Hall and Genieve Gardner.

Dr. Kamarakafego had recently been invited to become a Deputy Director General of the International Biographical Centre (IBC) in Cambridge, UK. The centre produces biographical directories about individuals of high prominence across the world. Among the tributes from around the world was a message from Enrique Roman Hernandez, Vice President of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples. Dr. Kamarakafego founded the Bermuda Friends of Cuba in 2000.

Mr. Hernandez said: “It is with utmost grief and consternation that we have come to learn of the death of our unforgettable friend, brother and comrade, Dr Pauulu Kamarakafego.

“His loss is not only to his family and friends, but as well a loss to Bermuda - which he so outstandingly well represented in so many international events of which he took part; to the progressive movement in the Carribean region; and particularly a loss to Cuba, too, which always found in Pauulu a true brother.

“May Pauulu rest in peace, as his memory and solidary deeds will forever be present among us, his Cuban brothers and sisters.”