By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

JOHN Henry Bostwick, a prominent figure in Bahamian politics and law whose decades of public service left an imprint on the country’s democratic institutions, died on Saturday at Doctors Hospital after a long illness. He was 86.

His wife, Dame Janet Bostwick, announced his death in a statement expressing gratitude for their years together and pride in his contributions to national life. “We are fortified by the prayers and support of so many dear friends and family,” she said. Funeral arrangements will be announced at a later date.

Mr Bostwick, a King’s Counsel and former President of the Senate, was widely praised for his intellect, integrity, and principled leadership.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis described his death as a national loss. “For over half a century, Mr Bostwick served with quiet distinction, not seeking recognition but earning it through the consistency of his character and the depth of his public service,” Mr Davis said. “His political journey was never about rigid loyalty to party. It was about loyalty to country.”

Educated at the University of Exeter, Mr Bostwick returned to The Bahamas and built a respected legal career as a partner at Bostwick & Bostwick. He led the Bahamas Bar Association from 1991 to 1995 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1994. In 2020, he was awarded the Companion of the Order of the Bahamas, granting him the title Right Honourable.

He was elected to the House of Assembly in 1968 and later served as Leader of the Opposition. He represented multiple political parties over the course of his career — including the Progressive Liberal Party, the Bahamas Democratic Party, and eventually the Free National Movement (FNM), which he helped found. He served as President of the Senate from 1992 to 2002, the longest tenure in Bahamian history.

Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, who appointed him to the Senate and named him President in 1992, recalled Mr Bostwick as “a brilliant legal mind” and a man of “huge personality, always with a smile and a laugh.”

“He had a keen appreciation for the dangers inherent in the concentration of power,” Mr Ingraham said. “He welcomed me not only as a fellow traveller in opposition to the then government but as his political leader.”

Mr Bostwick is survived by his wife Dame Janet, a pioneering politician in her own right, their children Margo, Kelley, Lisa, and John, and their grandchildren.