IF YOU never met him, you wouldn't know what you missed.

If you did, you'd know all too well.

Fritz Reiter, who died earlier this week, was quite simply a larger than life, unforgettable character who made an immediate and lasting impression on just about everybody he ever met.

More significantly over the last 40 years he made an impression on this Island, the likes of which will rarely be matched.

In the early days, it was in his Bermudiana Road restaurant, the Lobster Pot, where Fritz would most likely be found - in the kitchen, behind the bar, serving and entertaining customers, always with an enormous, engaging smile. Nothing was ever too much trouble.

But if he worked hard, he played even harder.

Whether it was on the football field, in a powerboat or out on the golf course, Fritz's boundless energy and enthusiasm set him apart.

A jovial giant of a man, his thirst for life was unquenchable.

Yet his mission was always the same - to help others. His generosity was legendary.

As fast as the restaurant cash tills rang, the money would be poured back into one sporting event or another - no better example being the Lobster Pot Pro-Am which during the 1980s and '90s became one of the Island's most successful golf tournaments, attracting amateurs and professionals from all corners of the US and Canada as well as Europe.

Most of those players returned year after year, and still do, not necessarily to play golf - although they'll tell you the tournament was the most enjoyable of any they ever played - but more likely to renew their friendship with Fritz.

A more charismatic and charming host you couldn't imagine.

Journalists at The Royal Gazette personally experienced Fritz's extraordinary kindness in many ways over many years.

But what we quickly learned was that it wasn't extraordinary at all.

He treated us no differently than he treated anyone else.

As news spread of his death this week following a two-year battle with cancer, the countless friends he left behind were unanimous in their tributes. Bermuda had lost a dear friend and he would be sadly missed.

Somehow, that doesn't even begin to describe the void left by his passing.

Fritz was a big man. But it was his huge heart that made him so special. He won't be forgotten.