One of the greatest US senators of all time and the youngest brother of the most celebrated political family in history when he wasn't championing international human rights Senator Edward Kennedy was hanging out on Bermuda's beaches.

As tributes poured in across the world for the veteran senator, who died on Tuesday night from a brain tumour, people from Bermuda recalled Sen. Kennedy's trips to the Island where he came to get away from it all.

A frequent guest at Cambridge Beaches, Sen. Kennedy was also known to mix it with the locals on visits during his younger years.

Tales have been told about his appearance in the crowd at a Ziggy Marley concert at BAA in 1990, while he's listed among the many well-known VIPs to have sampled the house drink at the Swizzle Inn in Bailey's Bay.

He would go sailing in Bermuda's waters, and one year his former wife Joan was college queen at Horseshoe Bay.

But probably Sen. Kennedy's most significant connection to Bermuda was his relationship with former United Bermuda Party MP John Stubbs.

In 1971, Sen. Kennedy recruited Dr. Stubbs, a surgeon who was familiar with both the UK and US health systems, to spearhead a fact-finding tour of Britain on behalf of the Senate Health subcommittee, which was looking to drastically improve healthcare in the States. The pair struck up a friendship which lasted many years.

Dr. Stubbs' wife Robin Stubbs told The Royal Gazette yesterday: "We would go out for dinner with him. Gosh! He was very friendly, chatty and charming.

"He would tell stories about all the movers and shakers in America — he was a great raconteur."

When Mrs. Stubbs penned her husband's biography in 2005, she received a letter from Sen. Kennedy who wrote: "I certainly have very warm memories of John. He did an excellent job for me on the Health subcommittee."

The letter praises Dr. Stubbs' medical expertise and knowledge and says he would have made a good US senator, but goes on: "I'm sure he was an outstanding doctor but, for all of us who worked with him, laughter was usually his best medicine! In the years that followed, I liked to check in with John whenever I happened to be in Bermuda."

Premier Ewart Brown said he met Sen. Kennedy during his days as a medical student volunteer on his healthcare review committee.

"He was extremely helpful to Howard University's Mississippi Project (HUMP) and to me personally," said the Premier in a statement.

"He has always been a friend to Bermuda and spent many days relaxing at Cambridge Beaches. He was a political icon who will be greatly missed.

"The Bermuda Government extends our condolences to the Kennedy family on the loss of their leader."

Sen. Kennedy died late on Tuesday at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, aged 77. He was diagnosed with brain cancer in May 2008.

Tributes internationally were led by US President Barack Obama, who described him as an extraordinary leader and "one of the most accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy".

A Democratic senator since 1962, the liberal stalwart was a vocal supporter of issues such as education and healthcare reform. It is widely believed he would have followed in his brother John F. Kennedy's footsteps and been President, were it not for the controversy over his involvement in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick bridge in 1969.

l The Last Lion - Overseas, Page 9