Among his many accomplishments, Conrad Hunte, who died of a heart attack in Sydney on Friday, was an extremely smooth after-dinner speaker.
I once attended a function where he gave the main address and remember him using the metaphor of a medieval cathedral erected by those who would never see their completed work to illustrate a point about the selflessness demanded of those in cricket development.
It was a suggestive idea, one which said as much about the man as it did about work that needed to be done. It also demonstrated Hunte's ability to think beyond the needs of the present and the immediate future - a priceless attribute in a culture not known for the quality of its strategic thinking.
South Africans will remember Hunte, the former West Indian Test opener, as a man who brought both dignity and compassion to a United Cricket Board desperately in need of authoritative black figures in the early part of the decade.
He worked for the Board for seven years, lately in his capacity as coach of the South African women's team, who took the the World Cup in India in 1997.
"He had such an infectious laugh," said Shan Cade, the manager of the side.
"When we couldn't find him we just used to listen out for his laugh and sure enough, we always managed to track him down."
Cade remembers that Hunte was unable to turn requests down and at one stage of the tour she had to ask for security around him to be stepped up as he was incessantly pestered by fans and journalists.
"He was invited by the sister of the Maharaj to visit the palace in Baroda," she said.
"We were playing against Pakistan but he had played there in 1957, 40 years before. It was a joy to be with him, he always had time for people. He was a real humanitarian."
Linda Olivier, the national women's player, has equally fond memories of Hunte, an opening batsman who played 44 times for the West Indies and scored 3245 runs at an average of 45,06.
"The fact that Conrad is not with us is going to be a great loss, not only for women's cricket but for cricket in general. He was a bubbly, lively person, a person of great integrity, we're really going to miss him," she said.
Hunte, a religious man from an impoverished backround, was not without his idiosyncrasies.
Said Cade: "He was a terrible driver. I closed my eyes whenever I travelled with him. We once travelled to Bloemfontein for a tournament there. We got lost. I had to phone home for directions. He had no anticipation whatsoever - he just used to stop."
Hunte, a wonderful ambassador for Barbados, West Indies cricket and the game in general is survived by his wife and three daughters, one of whom lives in Johannesburg.
"We always used to joke with him that he should have had sons, but he loved his daughters, he really lived for them," said Cade.