Former Labour minister Edwin Grech was recalled as a man of integrity, discipline and rigour on Monday, as parliamentarians from both sides of the House paid tribute to the late doctor and politician.
Grech died two weeks ago, aged 94. A medical professor and doctor, Grech was also known as the father of Karin Grech, who on December 27, 1977, opened a letter addressed to her father that contained an explosive device.
She died as a result of that explosion. She was just 15 years old. Her murder has never been solved.
The incident scarred Grech and his extended family. Among those impacted was the doctor’s six-year-old nephew, Bernard Grech.
Bernard Grech, who today is Opposition leader, recalled how the incident had imbued his entire family with a deep distrust of politics and politicians.
“I remember my father telling us ‘they’re playing us for fools’,” a visibly emotional Grech told parliament on Monday, as he described meeting his cousin Karin for the first – and last – time just three days before the murder.
“She was studying at a boarding school in England, and she came to Malta to celebrate Christmas. Three days later, she was no longer with us,” Grech said, his voice cracking with emotion.
“It is our duty to learn from these national tragedies, to ensure that the truth emerges and justice is served and that anyone responsible for this sort of cruel crime pays for it,” Grech told parliament.
Health Minister Chris Fearne paid tribute to Edwin Grech as a “giant” among men.
“His name will be etched in gold in Malta’s political history,” Fearne told parliament as he recalled how Grech was among a minority of doctors who had opted to work in government hospitals and teach at medical school at the time, despite an ongoing doctors’ strike.
The letter that killed his daughter was sent at the height of that strike.
“He trained an entire generation of doctors,” Fearne said. “Many doctors of my age learnt from him – his seriousness, his thoroughness and discipline”
Fearne noted how, a day after his daughter was killed, Grech was back at St Luke’s Hospital, delivering babies and teaching young doctors.
“That takes a giant, not a man,” the health minister noted.
Labour MP Michael Farrugia, who like Fearne was taught by Grech as a medical student, spoke with admiration and respect for the late doctor.
“I thank Edwin Grech for not abandoning Maltese students. He didn’t abandon me,” Farrugia said.
Grech had delivered two of his children, Farrugia recalled, and would later be a colleague in parliament.
Farrugia recalled how in 1996, both he and Grech sat in cabinet together. Grech served as minister for social policy and was the cabinet’s oldest member. Farrugia was health minister and one of cabinet’s youngest members.
Parliamentary Speaker Anġlu Farrugia also paid tribute to Grech.
Farrugia said he mainly interacted with Grech in the 1996 legislature when he was a backbencher and Grech was a minister.
“He was always extremely approachable and helpful,” the Speaker said. “But as the Opposition Leader said, talk always returned to what happened to his daughter. It was always on his mind.”