Just as Malta was preparing for the state funeral of President Emeritus Ċensu Tabone, the news surfaced that Fr Peter Serracino Inglott had also died after a lengthy illness.

Fr Peter, as many knew him, is regarded as one of the leading thinkers Malta has ever produced. He was also known to be a great teacher and lecturer. The social network sites were flooded with tributes to Fr Peter by many of those who had followed his lectures during their university years.

The sheer amount of them and the messages they conveyed showed the respect that he commanded. He was loved not only for his clarity of teaching, but also for the way he would have time for anyone who needed his ear. He was also a trusted adviser of former Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami. Fr Peter will be remembered as a philosopher, a thinker and a writer. He was, in many ways, way ahead of his time and saw things that many others did not see. He died just shy of his 76th birthday and his death is a loss for Malta and beyond.

When Malta says goodbye to two of its favourite sons, a loss will be felt. Dr Tabone was from a generation before that, he was 98. But we seem to be losing so many of these great figures in such a short space of time.

We have lost Guido de Marco, Dr Tabone, Fr Peter and many others. These larger than life figures all had a hand in shaping Malta into what it is today. In their time, it was about being gentlemanly, tolerant, grounded and responsible. They all had a sense of duty.

But sadly, these gentlemen were all the last of a dying breed. Our old guard are leaving us and sadly, it seems that there is a lacuna between the calibre of men and women who are leaving and those who are replacing them.

If we truly wanted to honour these people, we should strive to emulate them and to uphold the values which they held true. Malta has lost a truly remarkable man. Anyone who heard him speak, about any subject at all, would be captivated by the range of ideas, his foresight and ability to think laterally. He could analyse things in the bat of an eye and come up with a justified and convincing argument without any effort. His thoughts were way ahead of most people’s, yet at the same time, they were sober and grounded. Nothing that he said sounded far-fetched. In fact, when he said anything it always seemed like the correct thing.

This publishing house joins the rest of Malta in saying farewell to another important figure. Farewell.