The Maltese people yesterday paid their last respects to the first President of the Republic, Sir Anthony Mamo, who passed away on 1 May at the venerable age of 99. St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta was packed with dignitaries for his funeral and Republic Street was lined up with people bidding their farewell to Sir Anthony. Others had paid their tribute in the morning at the Palace in Valletta.

Many, as young boys and girls, will remember his photo being put up on the walls of government schools soon after he was made President on 13 December 1974, a post he occupied until 26 December 1976, when he was replaced by the late Anton Buttigieg.

Malta was a different country back then, still in its first years as an independent nation and looking forward to its new chapter as a republic. It was also a difficult time for the country and Malta needed a unifying factor, a person who brought the political factions closer.

Sir Anthony had been the perfect choice, as in the years he served as President he managed to provide the serenity that was needed in those particular moments.

His integrity and apolitical stance in whatever he was involved in meant that he could serve under four different prime ministers of different political creed across nearly half a century – Sir Paul Boffa, Dr Enrico Mizzi, Dr Giorgio Borg Olivier and Dom Mintoff – and this he did always keeping the best interests of the country in mind.

Among the posts he occupied so well were that of Chief Justice, a post he started occupying in 1957, and of Governor-General, a post that preceded his appointment as President of Malta.

His death is a big loss for the country, and this could be seen by the tributes that have been flowing in since it was announced. The Nationalist Party and the Malta Labour Party both issued statements in which they only had words of praise for the man. And those who worked with him and knew him well all described him as a gentleman.

Sir Anthony nearly lived to be 100, and in the last years of his life was only in the news each time he celebrated his birthday. It had almost become a tradition for the media to gather at Casa Arkati, the home for the elderly where he was being taken care of, on 9 January to mark yet another year for Sir Anthony.

Journalists could then notice how much Sir Anthony kept in touch with what was going on around him, never losing an opportunity to pass that humorous comment which brought out his humanity.

At the last birthday celebration, President Eddie Fenech Adami remarked that Sir Anthony had been the oldest living former head of state, to which Sir Anthony had commented that he knew he was old “but I didn’t know I was the oldest ex-head of state”.

History will remember him as the country’s first native head of state, but Sir Anthony contributed more than that to the nation he loved so much. As Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici told this newspaper when asked for his comments, Sir Anthony, as Chief Justice, “issued a great number of judgments which were clear, groundbreaking in their rationale and far reaching in their social dimension”.

Sir Anthony was a man who led by example, and his composure, tranquillity and good guidance should serve as a model to others.