Tributes were paid yesterday to author and chess player Mario Serracino Inglott, who died on Saturday aged 72.
Education and Culture Minister Louis Galea said Mr Serracino Inglott was completely dedicated to all that was Maltese, particularly the Maltese language.
He had worked hard to unite all those who loved the Maltese language and literature and contributed to mending bridges between different groups, helping in the preparation of a Bill on the Maltese language, which was later made law.
Dr Galea said Mr Serracino Inglott had contributed greatly to the Akkademja tal-Malti along the years and people of his generation knew the deceased author for his enthusiasm to constantly promote the Maltese language.
The National Literary Council (KNK) paid tribute to Mr Serracino Inglott, who, it said, loved the Maltese language and worked for it all his life.
For a number of years Mr Serracino Inglott was a teacher of Maltese. For him the Maltese language was "a great and beautiful language that is second to no other language and the instrument that first and foremost makes us what we are - Maltese", the council said.
Like his father, he also loved chess and also wrote the history of chess in Malta. He won his first honour in chess when he was 10 and for many years he served as president of the Malta Chess Association. In 1980 he was instrumental in hosting and organising the Chess Olympiads in Malta - the largest edition up until that time. He was also the first Maltese to be recognised by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) as an international chess arbiter.
Mr Serracino Inglott played his part to better Maltese in broadcasting.
The council said that the late author's dedication to Maltese lexicography strengthened the language.
Born in Cospicua in November 1934, Mr Serracino Inglott had, since 1983, been editing his father Erin's unpublished manuscripts including Il-Miklem Malti. He also compiled his own dictionary and thesaurus, Dizzjunarju Malti.
Mr Serracino Inglott was married to Joan Antida Fsadni and had a daughter, Lara.