Dr Lenny Saith was yes­ter­day de­scribed as a man who be­lieved in ser­vice above self, who left an in­deli­ble mark on the na­tion­al land­scape with­out seek­ing the lime­light, who was hum­ble, and whose shoes are very hard to fill.

This was how sen­a­tors laud­ed the late for­mer Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) sen­a­tor and min­is­ter, who died last month. Saith had led the PNM’s sen­ate team and served in sev­er­al min­istries and as PNM chair­man. Sen­a­tors ob­served a minute’s si­lence on Saith’s pass­ing dur­ing yes­ter­day’s sit­ting.

Sen­ate leader Dar­rell Al­la­har, ex­press­ing the Gov­ern­ment’s pro­found con­do­lences, said the Gov­ern­ment ac­knowl­edged with grat­i­tude, Saith’s im­mense con­tri­bu­tions to gov­er­nance and na­tion-build­ing.

Op­po­si­tion PNM sen­a­tor Faris al-Rawi, Saith’s nephew, said his hu­mour was so dry, “you some­times won­dered if he had sense of it.”

Al-Rawi added, “He was dis­ci­plined be­yond mea­sure, bal­anced, and epit­o­mised pa­tience. Cer­tain­ly, his shoes are very hard to fill.”

In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tor An­tho­ny Vieira said Saith’s pub­lic record spoke for it­self.

He said, “Those who worked close­ly with him have de­scribed him as hum­ble, soft-spo­ken, dis­ci­plined, and a man of great in­tel­lect and in­tegri­ty.”

Viera added, “He was, by all ac­counts, a man who left an in­deli­ble mark on the na­tion­al land­scape with­out seek­ing the lime­light.”

Sen­ate Pres­i­dent Wade Mark said Saith was af­fa­ble, calm and re­spect­ful and cre­at­ed an au­ra in the cham­ber which pro­mot­ed ca­ma­raderie.

“I nev­er met with any­thing but sober, qui­et re­spons­es. His pro­found re­spect for the in­sti­tu­tion of Par­lia­ment was un­shake­able and un­wa­ver­ing,” Mark said.