Ralph Marshall

Ralph Owen Marshall, CBE, (4 May 1927 – 18 September 2012) was a Bermudian politician, architect, and civil engineer who served as the MP for the Southampton West constituency from 1963 to 1993.[1] Marshall was one of the first members of the United Bermuda Party (UBP) to serve in the Parliament of Bermuda.[2] He was also the first MP of Portuguese descent, as well as the first Bermudian of Portuguese descent to establish a career on Bermuda.[2][1] In 1972, Marshall became the first Portuguese-Bermudian Cabinet Minister.[1] He was later appointed the first Portuguese-Bermudian Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1992.[3]

Marshall was born on 4 May 1927.[1] He attended Greenfield Primary, Port Royal School in Southampton and then the Mount Allison Academy.[1] Marshall enrolled at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick and the former Nova Scotia Technical College (now part of Dalhousie University), receiving his Bachelor of Engineering in 1951.[1] He married his late wife, Patricia Francis Vallis, and the couple had three children – Belinda, Marsha and Blake.[1]

In 1954, Marshall and Louis Bernardo co-founded the Marshall-Bernardo Partnership, an architectural and civil engineering firm.[1][2] In doing so, Marshall became the first Portuguese-Bermudian to establish a professional career on the island.[2] The firm has designed and constructed notable buildings in Bermuda, including Bermuda College, Grotto Bay, the Washington Mall and Belco.[2]

Marshall was first elected to the House of Assembly of Bermuda in 1963 from Southampton West.[3] The political class of 1963 who entered parliament with Marshall also included Sir John Sharpe and Dame Lois Browne-Evans.[3]

During his thirty-year tenure, Marshall held several cabinet portfolios as Minister of Transport from 1972 to 1974; Minister of Works, Agriculture & Fisheries from 1974 to 1976 and again from 1978 to 1981; Minister of Health in 1976; Minister without Portfolio in 1977; and a second stint as Minister of Transport from 1989 until his retirement in 1993.[3] He was also the first Bermudian to serve on the Executive of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.[2]

Marshall lived with Parkinson's disease for the last twelve years of his life.[2] He died from pneumonia at King Edward Memorial Hospital on 18 September 2012 at the age of 85.[2] He had resided in Peacehaven, Sandys Parish.[1]