Two great public servants passed away recently within days of each other. Both gentlemen were in their 90s. One, Maurice de Giorgio, who had been a successful businessman before devoting the last 23 years of his life to the cause of Malta’s rich cultural heritage, was still actively involved in the daily running of Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti.
The other, Frederick Amato Gauci (my Uncle Freddie, my mother’s brother), had spent a lifetime in public service, retiring only when well into his 70s.
Maurice de Giorgio and Freddie Amato Gauci epitomised what the ethic of public service in Malta was once like. They were in it because their whole upbringing, education and background had impelled them to feel that it was an honour to serve one’s country. They were probably the last of a gentleman-breed of public servant whose genetic code of professional expectations was transmitted from one generation to another in a way that happens in a relatively small group of people.
Both had served in defence of Malta during World War II – Maurice as Adjutant in one of the Royal Malta Artillery regiments, where his impeccable organisational skills were developed. And Freddie Amato Gauci, also in the Royal Malta Artillery, where he was one of the youngest majors in the regiment, earning the award of a military MBE.
Their leadership and man-management skills, about which so many people commented after their deaths, were honed in the heat of wartime Malta and carried forward into their careers after the war. On Maurice: “He always tried to see the good in everybody.” About Freddie: “I treasure his memory for the deeply human approach he adopted towards man-management.”
Their commitment to give utter loyalty to whoever their political masters were – whether Labour or Nationalist – was also the hallmark of an ability to separate their overriding duty to their country from whatever their personal politics happened to be, a quality which seems tragically to have been lost in today’s highly polarised Maltese politics.
Both were later to be honoured with Membership of the National Order of Merit in recognition of the work they had done for Malta.
Freddie Amato Gauci was the archetypal model of a top civil servant: intelligent, discreet, reticent, articulate, well organised. The Malta we live in today owes much to the structures that he had helped to build in the immediate post-war and post-Independence years. Together with a small group of outstanding civil servants, he modernised Malta’s public administration.
The comprehensive social services and national insurance system enjoyed by Malta today had its origins in the meticulous work Freddie put into place over 60 years ago to organise and develop them from scratch. Malta’s diplomatic service and the framework for Malta’s foreign policy were also built from the ground up after Independence by Freddie. Later, he was also responsible for advising on Maltese State enterprises.
The good which he did in all these fields lives after him.
It was gratifying to see so many of his early recruits to the Maltese Diplomatic Service at his funeral service on June 1.
Maurice de Giorgio and Frederick Amato Gauci both felt they had a mission in life to make Malta a better place
They were there to pay tribute to a deeply human being who had dedicated a lifetime of service to Malta as one ofits wisest, most dedicated and hard-working public servants who went about his work without show, but to great effect.
To those of us who were privileged to know him intimately, he was huge fun to be with. He possessed the most wonderfully laconic sense of humour, great modesty and charm.
Maurice de Giorgio dedicated the last 23 years of his life to Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, an inspired creation in 1992 given guidance and leadership by the redoubtable Maurice.
Maurice ensured by dint of his leadership, sheer personality, charm and commitment that Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti brought to the attention of the Maltese (and the world) the impressive scale and breadth of cultural heritage riches to be found in Malta.
The exhibitions mounted by Maurice covered a range of hidden treasures of Malta, from the Maltese tal-Lira Clock to Sedan Chairs, to Maltese Silver and Jewellery, the paintings of Gianni and Edward Caruana Dingli, and others.
Moreover, through the outstanding medium of the quarterly Treasures of Malta magazine, the foundation has been responsible for collecting, documenting and disseminating information and research into every aspect of Malta’s cultural and historical heritage.
The magazine has become a collector’s item and is packed with every kind of well-written, well-researched article about Malta which the intelligent reader could possibly wish for.
It has also published an outstanding list of beautifully presented books on every aspect of Melitensia.
Maurice set the bar high for Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti. He would never compromise on the need to achieve standards of excellence, an approach which, regrettably, is rare in Malta.
He brought to the foundation the most exquisite good taste and the highest standards of organisation and presentation, whether in the way exhibitions were selected and displayed, or the outstanding restoration of Palazzo Falson in Mdina (which will forever stand as the benchmark for what can be done in this field), or the publications of the foundation.
There is a thread uniting all the projects he oversaw that spells impeccable good taste, underpinned by the most meticulous planning, attention to detail and sheer hard work.
He was a delightful and most supportive friend, always immaculately turned out, self-deprecating and with a wonderfully dry sense of humour.
Maurice de Giorgio and Freddie Amato Gauci were two great public servants who shared much in common. They both strove for the highest standards. But they did this without show or any sense of entitlement or self-righteousness. They both felt they had a mission in life to make Malta a better place. And they set about it – quietly, efficiently, modestly – doing their level best to achieve it. Their legacies to Malta will endure.
These are the ethical qualities that we should be looking for in our public servants and which Maurice and Freddie so patently demonstrated. There was something tangible about the public service ethic which they epitomised. They were clearly impartial and non-partisan. They showed unarguably that their positions were not to be used to further private purposes, but solely for the furtherance of public purposes.
Their probity was incorruptible. The advice they offered their political masters was based on impartial evidence and a great respect for reason – the enemy of political prejudice. Although I am confident that both Maurice and Freddie would have done so with great tact, they would always have been ready to “speak truth unto power”.
Effective public servants like Maurice and Freddie would have been acutely conscious of the need for an appreciation of the wider public interest and an awareness of the impact on the people public servants are there to serve.
The need for equity and fairness lay at the heart of what they did.
Both of them demonstrated a motivation which engendered that sense of pride in public service. It was what attracted them as altruistic and profoundly decent, motivated individuals to the service of their country.
Our heartfelt condolences go out to the families of Maurice de Giorgio and Freddie Amato Gauci: two outstanding public servants whose like we shall probably not see again.