Members of the AME church worldwide are mourning the death of Bermudian Minister Bishop Donald George Kenneth Ming, who died in Philadelphia on Tuesday after a long illness.

Bishop Ming died in his early 70s after a life as a Church leader and missionary, helping to build churches around the World, including in South Africa, various parts of North America, the Caribbean and England.

The 97th Bishop of the church, he was the first Bermudian to become Bishop over the Bermuda Annual Conference.

Bishop Ming was born in Devonshire to C.E. and Mable Ming.

He attended Elliott School and Howard Academy, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Wilberforce University in Ohio.

He then went on to earn his Master of Divinity degree from Payne Theological Seminary, also Ohio.

Bishop Ming steadily ascended in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, from a small charge in the New Jersey Conference to the Delaware Conference, where he built Mount Zion AME Church in Dover and motivated the building fund and purchased the site of land where New Murph Church now stands.

He also built and paid for, in half of the required time, Allen AME Church in Jamaica, New York.

He was elected the 97th Bishop of the church at the General Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1976.

Soon after, he was assigned to the Republic of South Africa and Namibia.

Bishop Ming also built a health complex and clinic for the people of Haiti, as well as classrooms for the unlearned, and apartments for the missionaries who went to help.

Yesterday, the Reverend Leonard Santucci, who is joining a Bermuda delegation going to Philadelphia for Bishop Ming's funeral next week, described his friend as a role model for all Bermudians who had entered the Ministry in the last 50 years.

He said Bishop Ming had left Bermuda in 1949 to study, but was a regular visitor, coming back to see his many relatives and friends.

And he said his impact in the church was recognised most in his missions overseas.

Rev. Santucci said: "He was a tremendous church-builder. He led in the building of 45 churches in South Africa between 1976 and 1980.

"He was really held in high esteem as missionary and Bishop of the church. He had the heart and the mind for missions.

"But he has a huge family in Bermuda that also holds him in high regard and esteem. He was an inspiration to us all."

And the Reverend Lorne Bean, of Bright Temple in Warwick, said he believed Bishop Ming would be sorely missed.

He said: "His persona was as big as his physique. The way he carried himself - his personality just reached out like that.

"He was in and out of the Island frequently - he loved to fish when he came here."

Bishop Ming was predeceased by his wife, the late Edith, who died in 2000.

The funeral of Bishop Ming will take place on Wednesday March 20 at the Greater Allen Cathedral in Jamaica, New York, at noon. Viewing will be held the day before from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., with a fraternal service scheduled for 8 p.m.

Interment will take place on Thursday in Philadelphia.