Tributes flowed from both sides of the political divide yesterday afternoon at a four-and-a-half hour joint sitting of the legislature, as lawmakers paid their respects to the late Finance Minister Eugene Cox. opened the session by saying that Mr. Cox?s death marked the ?end of an era?.

And he praised the late Finance Minister as a man ?whose like we shall not see again?.

?We have sustained as a people and a country a very great loss,? he said. He described Mr. Cox as ?a gentleman, a scholar, a warrior for social and economic justice, and a strong contributor and supporter of the Bermuda Labour Movement.?

The Premier continued: ?It has been observed that Minister Cox leaves us after participating in more than three decades of Bermudian public life having accumulated no discernible enemies. He managed this unique distinction in politics by earning the unanimous respect, admiration, and gratitude of a grateful nation.?

Minister Cox ?entered adulthood a subject of, and witness to, the overt racism of that time,? Mr. Scott said.

?Yet he was never embittered. He recognised, and taught, that racism is a disease, which inflicts the racist as much as ? if not more than ? it harms the person to whom it is directed. However Mr. Cox refused to become a victim of the racism that swirled around him ? numbing the spirit of lesser men.?

Like many of the speakers that would follow, Mr. Scott noted Mr. Cox?s achievements in politics, the business world and as a family man.

As the Progressive Labour Party?s (PLP) first Finance Minister, Mr. Cox ?exercised a fiscal responsibility that anchored Bermuda?s prosperity.?

?But all this pales into insignificance when we come to consider Eugene Cox, the husband, father, confidant and friend. He was a shining example to his family whom he adored... The love and guidance of this great man, whose like we shall not see again, is exemplified in his children and is made manifest by their commitment to excellence and their dedication to public service.? paid tribute to Mr. Cox?s long service in politics. ?His passing will be a real loss to Bermuda and I?m sure will be deeply felt on the Government benches as well... His shoes will be hard to fill.?

He said Mr. Cox had carried out his duties with ?dignity and purpose? and that he hoped that young Bermudians would be inspired by his commitment to the country. recalled his former colleague?s contributions at the Island?s electric utility Belco.

?Mr. Cox played a major role in improving labour relations and race relations in that company and over the years it became a company that is looked upon as an example of how labour relations and race relations should be handled.?

He said the pair travelled off the Island together on business and that Mr. Cox was always well received and respected.

?He was always a very useful partner to have... and always held in very high esteem by all of our partners overseas.? said that he felt privileged to have worked with him.

During the many years in Opposition, Mr. Cox was ?an example of how to stay and how to play and how to work the programme despite the pain of being in Opposition,? Dr. Brown said.

And he said the success of his children illustrated the quality of the man.

?He was a man of great dignity and distinction. He was a giant, our giant, and we respect his memory.?delivered a message for his colleague whose arrival back on the Island was delayed by the weather. ?I admire him not just for his dignity but for his steadfastness,? Mr. Barritt said. He noted that Mr. Cox was almost always present at House sittings and stayed the entire sitting. And he regretted that he had few opportunities to sit and chat with the late Finance Minister one on one.

?I don?t think there?s a person in this Chamber who does not speak from the heart,? said Mr. Dunkley.

?He listened before he spoke and when he spoke he was always measured and reasoned.?

?We can search for no better model to follow than the fiscal policy of social and economic justice,? said in his tribute to the ?helmsman? of PLP financial policy.

?Eugene Cox was honourable long before he came to this place,? said .

?He did not have to come to this place to become honourable.?

He spoke of Mr. Cox?s willingness to risk his career for his country when he agreed to contest the 1976 election to represent Sandys North.

Andsaid: ?When we look over the life of Mr. Cox, it does all of us proud. We don?t have to give him a knighthood because he was always a ?sir?.?

?The best tribute that we in Bermuda can do would be to take some pages out of his book and emulate that,? declared who described Mr. Cox as an ?outstanding family person.?

And said that the country need look no further than Mr. Cox to learn how to raise Bermuda men.

?He is the example of how you raise a family, how you instil values in children.? He said he admired the fact that the Cox family travelled together on vacation.

He praised Mr. Cox as one who ?fought the good fight, stayed the course and kept the faith?.

?His faith never wavered. He believed in Bermuda. He believed in the Progressive Labour Party.? reminded the joint session that Mr. Cox was a ?happy fellow and he made all of us around him happy.?

The late Finance Minister, he said, was ?one of Bermuda?s most valuable citizens?.

?If ever a prize was offered for being a husband, a father, a homemaker, I believe Eugene would be the first among equals.? described Mr. Cox as ?a man of principle, a man of dignity and a man of integrity.?

And said that Mr. Cox had been a ?trailblazer? who had given him all the support he needed in moments of difficulty. ?I?m saddened by the fact that I didn?t tell him how much of a great example and encouragement he was to me.?

He added : ?I?ve grown as a result of him and where I?ve not grown is not because of him, Mr. Speaker, but because of my slowness in learning.?

?We have been so enriched by what Mr. Cox has done for the community... that enrichment can never be lost,? said . noted that Government was mourning a sitting Cabinet Minister for the second time.

She described Mr. Cox as her ?left hand? while she was Premier.

?With God on my right and Mr. Cox on my left, I felt supported enough to tackle any task. Mr. Cox was not perfect. He was a man but he was a good man, he was deeply religious but... those who know him know he also had a wicked sense of humour and a reputation for his jokes.?

?He gave until he could give no more,? said . ?He was a prime example of a real Bermuda gentleman.? said she had learned a lot from Mr. Cox?s ?demeanour, his calmness, his astuteness and yet his humility.?

And she revealed that Mr. Cox had to be pressured by his staff at Finance to buy new furniture for his offices, because he wanted to set an example of budget austerity.

?Whenever I found myself in difficulty or whenever he saw my family was going through any difficulty he would pick up the phone and call,? said .

?The gentleman politician of that era is a dying breed,? noted .

He said his earliest recollection of Mr. Cox was during a 1976 Sandys by-election. At the time Mr. Simmons was a PLP supporter.

He said that despite the risk of abuse from supporters of his political opponents in the early days, Mr. Cox ?was one of the few who canvassed the entire constituency.?

?He had the ability to disagree without rancour, to disagree without hatred.? said that Mr. Cox?s demeanour commanded respect.

?I saw a faithful individual in Mr. Cox. In his deliberation I saw a passion in which he handled his Ministry, his loyalty to yourself (Jennifer Smith, former Premier) in times of turmoil.? said : ?Mr. Cox stood out in his field both as a sportsman and a politician.?

And described Mr. Cox as a ?quiet focused warrior, a warrior who fought for the rights of every on. A humble lion.?

Labour organiser and read a statement from , who was away on business, who said that he will work hard to ensure that the late Finance Minister?s ?dream of unemployment insurance in Bermuda will become a reality.?, thanked the gathering and the rest of the community for the tributes that had flowed in since news of her father?s death.

?It?s incredibly cathartic. You look and you wonder how on earth can one cope.?

But the tributes had made it easier than expected, she said.

She told the House of a personal crisis when she suffered a miscarriage and called her father in tears. ?What started in tears ended in laughter,? she said. ?Because that was the nature of who he was.? described Mr. Cox as a man of ?great honesty and unparalleled integrity? before closing the sitting.

?He did not always agree with what other members said... but respected the right of other members to be heard in silence,? Mr. Lowe said.

?We bid farewell to this giant of a man who always will be etched indelibly in the parliamentary annals.?