John Camilleri

John Camilleri, credited with Eddie Fenech Adami’s rise in the Nationalist Party, died yesterday as friends poured accolades on the man of strong will.

A backroom operator, who loved politics but shunned the limelight, Mr Camilleri, 67, formed part of the small group of people within the PN who masterminded Dr Fenech Adami’s leadership bid in 1977.

The former prime minister and President credited Mr Camilleri for his political career when contacted yesterday.

“John was a great helper, one of those who pushed me hard for the leadership.”

It was a hard time for the PN, having lost its second consecutive election in 1976. Then leader George Borg Olivier was refusing to leave as a group of young activists believed Dr Fenech Adami was the right man to change the party.

Many of those young activists went on to become prominent politicians but not Mr Camilleri.

He remained a steady force behind the new leader.

For 14 years, Mr Camilleri served as Dr Fenech Adami’s private secretary – 10 years when the PN was in Opposition – and until 1987 the PN’s organisation secretary.

In Dr Fenech Adami’s words, Mr Camilleri was a strong-willed person. “He offered good advice and was always there working steadfastly in the background,” the former prime minister recalled.

It was a sentiment shared by Richard Cachia Caruana, a former aide to Dr Fenech Adami and Malta’s first representative to the EU.

He described Mr Camilleri as a mainstay of the new PN that took shape in the 1970s and 1980s. “He had an excellent political brain that served both party and country well,” Mr Cachia Caruana said.

Former Nationalist minister Austin Gatt, who also formed part of the team that transformed the party after Dr Fenech Adami became leader, agreed.

He offered good advice and was always there working steadfast in the background

“John was one of the core group of individuals who believed Eddie Fenech Adami represented the future of the party and worked tirelessly to ensure he got the leadership,” Dr Gatt reminisced.

Former minister Louis Galea may have been the public face of the PN’s transformation at the time – he was general secretary – but Mr Camilleri played a major part in the change, he added.

“John was an extremely nice person, who was a joy to work with. He believed in a left-of-centre party and was loyal to the PN’s values,” Dr Gatt said.

But Mr Camilleri was also an independent-minded person as Dr Gatt could attest in 2006, when as minister responsible for the public broadcasting service he appointed him to head the editorial board.

Mr Camilleri had quit the PBS editorial board after just 10 months when the board’s decision to leave out a number of programmes, including Bondiplus, from the station’s winter schedule, was overruled.

“My principles are not for sale,” he had said.

Mr Camilleri was a director of several government entities including the Freeport and Maltacom. He was also deputy chairman at Mid-Med Bank and served as president of Floriana football club.

Between 1999 and 2005 he was CEO of the Employment and Training Corporation, leaving when he took up a post in Brussels as personal assistant to European Commissioner Joe Borg.

Mr Camilleri died at Karin Grech Rehabilitation Centre. He left behind his wife Mary and three sons Cristian, Julian, and Damian.

The funeral Mass will be held today at 9am at Floriana parish church.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com