RAYMOND A. Hintz, a former president of the American Society of Bermuda and a popular figure in the island's nascent off-shore business industry in the 1970s and '80s, has died in Bluffton, South Carolina. He was 88 years old.

From 1979 to 1985 Mr. Hintz was vice-president of Bermuda-based Goodyear Brokers Ltd., a subsidiary of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.

"He loved Bermuda," said Mr. Hintz' daughter, Adrienne, who now works on the island. "My parents were very sad and upset when they were transferred back to Goodyear's home office in Akron, Ohio in January, 1985.

"They made many good friends on the island and still had a Bermuda connection through me."

As president of the American Society in Bermuda in the early 1980s, Mr. Hintz helped to organise the early ¿ and comparatively modest ¿ Independence Day parties held at Chelston, the former home of US Consul Generals on the island.

"He had to chuckle whenever I told him about the current flashy and huge July 4 parties they hold now," said Adrienne Hintz.

"In his day the party was more like a picnic with hotdogs and hamburgers and he would hope to get a hundred or so people to show up."

Born in Chicago in 1920, at the outbreak of World War Two, Mr. Hintz worked for engineering firm Chicago Bridge & Iron on the construction of a major US air base in Trinidad before enlisting in the United States Navy.

He served in the Pacific-Asiatic Theatre of Operations aboard the landing ship USS LSM 338, seeing action in the crucial battle of Saipan in July, 1944 ¿ the decisive American victory which led to the collapse of Japanese warlord Hideki Tojo's regime.

In October, 1944 Mr. Hintz took part in the Battle of Tacloben during the American liberation of the Phillipines. Later he was stationed in Japan during the American Occupation that followed Tokyo's unconditional surrender to the Allies in August, 1945.

Mr. Hintz and his wife of 60 years, Betty, were married while he was attending Hiram College in Ohio. Upon graduation he accepted a position with the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. in Akron, and in 1951 he and his family were posted to Sumatra, Indonesia.

He worked as a rubber planter for 11 years at Goodyear's plantations in Sumatra and the southern Philippines. Reassignment followed to a Goodyear plant in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and a subsequent posting to Singapore, where for 12 years he was involved in rubber purchasing.

His 35-year career with Goodyear ended with his six-year posting in Bermuda.

"My father immediately took to Bermuda shorts when he arrived here and wore them year-round," said Adrienne Hintz.

"However, my mother and I would have to send him back upstairs more often than not to change either his tie or socks ¿ or both ¿ as his sense of colour and print co-ordination was a bit eccentric to say the least."

Mr. Hintz' decision to go to Magistrates' Court to contest a ticket for speeding near his Bailey's Bay home rather than pay the automatic fine might also have been described as idiosyncratic. He ended up losing his driving licence for three months.

"He used to take the bus to and from work but sometimes he had to come on the back of my not very attractive or powerful moped," said Adrienne Hintz.

"I was going to school at BHS at the time and we wish we had taken a picture of this tall man, dressed smartly for work, sitting on the back of my 50 cc. moped and hanging on for dear life as we beetled our way towards Hamilton."

After his retirement, Mr. Hintz and his wife moved to Bluffton where he was president of Meals on Wheels in the late '80s and also served as president of Bluffton's Friends of the Library. He died peacefully at his home on Monday, August 25.

Mr. Hintz is survived by his wife, four children and two grandchildren.