The founder of Fondazzjoni Nazareth, Dun Anġ Seychell, died on Saturday, aged 91.

Born in 1933 in Żejtun, Seychell was ordained a priest at the age of 23.

In addition to Fondazzjoni Nazareth, he also co-founded Caritas and was instrumental in establishing the house for retired and elderly clergy in Birkirkara.

In 2016 he also famously opposed an agritourism development that was set to engulf the Munxar cliffs in Marsascala. Twenty years earlier he had also fronted the building of a hotel in the same area.

Affectionately known as Dun Anġ, his lifelong mission statement was to remove vulnerable persons from institutionalised care and place them in homes offering them an alternative family structure.

Fondazzjoni Nazareth’s mission was inspired by this objective. It provides alternative family to persons with physical or mental disabilities who have no family or are unable to live with their natural family..

In early September 1995, Dun Anġ Seychell opened a first residence to cater for four people with physical or mental disability.

A second home, named after Fr Lawrence Degabriele, was opened in 2002; a third, the Jean Vanier home, was opened in 2009.

Dar San Ġużepp Ħaddiem was closed down in 2023 because the foundation could not keep up with the rental costs.

Throughout his life, Dun Anġ was also a regular contributor on newspapers and religious and social broadcasts on TV and radio.

As his death was announced on the Facebook page of the NGO he set up, tributes poured in to honour his memory.