President of Malta. Victoria born Vincent "Ċensu" Tabone was the youngest of ten children. His first cousin, Joseph Calleia (1897 - 1975), was a renowned Hollywood actor. Educated at St. Aloysius College and at the University of Malta, graduating as a pharmacist in 1933 and as a doctor of medicine in 1937, during the Second World War, he joined the Royal Malta Artillery and served as a regimental medical officer, general duty officer and later, as a trainee ophthalmic specialist at the Mtarfa military hospital. Entrusted with the anti-trachoma campaign in Gozo in 1945 with the result that in due course, the disease was practically eliminated from the island, the campaign was in many ways a pioneer project as were those of the World Health Organisation which he helped launch in many countries, notably in Taiwan, Indonesia and Iraq. Moving to the United Kingdom in order to further his training in ophthalmology, he obtained a diploma in ophthalmology from the University of Oxford and another from the Ophthalmic Medicine and Surgery of the Conjoint Board at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Back in Malta, he was soon engaged in ophthalmic practice, holding senior posts in various hospitals. Elected fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1949, in 1953 he obtained a diploma in medical jurisprudence from the Society of Apothecaries of London. Founding the Medical Officers Union in 1954, of which he served for several years as president, as of 1956 he served as a member of the International Panel of Trachoma Experts of the WHO and remained a consultant for the organisation for many years. Member of the Council of the University of Malta and of the Faculty Board of Medicine, he lectured clinical ophthalmology in the department of surgery. Active in politics since the early sixties, he became a member of the Nationalist Party's executive committee in 1961. For ten years, from 1962 till 1972, he was its secretary general and from 1972 to 1977, its first deputy leader. Elected president of the executive committee in 1978, he held this post up until August 1985. Contesting the general elections for the first time in the interests of the Nationalist Party in 1962, he was elected member of parliament in 1966, becoming Minister of Labour, Employment and Welfare. Successively re-elected in 1971, 1976, 1981 and 1987, he represented the Nationalist parliamentary group in the Council of Europe as of 1973, and was party spokesman on foreign affairs as of 1978. Member of various Council of Europe committees for several years and rapporteur of the Political Affairs Committee, of the Committee of Health and Social Affairs and of the Committee for European non-member countries, for which he was also president for some time, he founded the "Akkademja Ghall-Izvilupp ta' l-Ambjent Demokratiku" serving as its president from 1976 to 1988. Appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1987, on April 4, 1989 he was elected by the parliament as the fourth President of the Republic of Malta. As President, he welcomed Presidents Bush and Gorbachev for their superpower summit in Malta and also welcomed Pope John Paul II on his first visit to the island as well as Queen Elizabeth II, with whom he dedicated the Siege Bell Memorial in Valletta on the fiftieth anniversary of the award of the George Cross. Dr. Tabone had a mania for being punctual and, not surprisingly, had a hobby of repairing clocks. Awarded testimonial by the Secretary General of the United Nations in recognition of his dedicated service in support of the United Nations programme on Aging, along the years he was also named companion of honour of the Order of Merit of Malta, received a special grade of Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and a 'pro merito' medal from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Furthermore he was awarded the Presidential Gold Medal of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the grand collar of the Order of Makarios III, was named cavaliere di gran croce decorato con gran cordone al merito by the Republic of Italy and awarded an M.D. hons. causa by the Beijing Medical College, China. Passing away at his residence in St. Julians, he was laid to rest in his native Gozo after receiving a state funeral.