I join the Christian education and religious communities and Bahamians of goodwill in mourning and paying tribute to the life and work of an education leader, religious leader, administrator par excellence and a giant of a man in the name of Pastor Hugh Roach.
With deep familial roots in Exuma, Pastor Roach rose through the ranks of the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Conference to become the President of the Bahamas Conference of Seventh Day Adventists including the Turks and Caicos Mission. Along the way he served as Pastor of multiple churches for over fifty years.
During his tenure as President of the SDA church in The Bahamas, Pastor Roach is credited with establishing the Grand Bahama Academy in Freeport and the Bahamas Academy in Nassau became an accredited institution.
He was Chaplain of the House of Assembly from 2012 to 2017.
In the area of education development, he served with distinction as the Principal of the Bahamas Academy in the 1960s and 1970s and committed much of his professional life to the advancement of Christian education for Bahamians.
Pastor Roach was one of the first Bahamians to attend university, graduating from Canadian Union College in Canada and Andrews University in Michigan in the 1950s with a Bachelor and Masters degrees respectively.
Pastor Roach loved The Bahamas and served it well. We thank him for his service as he departs this life to receive his just and eternal reward.
He is remembered for his stirring oratory at the funeral of the nation’s founding Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling in 2000.
On behalf of my wife Ann-Marie, Deputy Leader, I. Chester Cooper, National Chairman Senator Fred Mitchell and the officers and members of the Progressive Liberal Party, I express heartfelt condolences to his wife Mrs. Olga Roach, his daughter Opal, son Hubert and their grandchildren.
May he rest in peace
