Appreciation: Mario Tabone
The death of Mario Tabone meant Malta’s loss of one of its most respected intellectuals but also one of Malta’s most experienced ophthalmologists, greatly admired not only for his expertise but also for his care his to the patients as persons to be respected and even liked.
His sociability was proverbial, and a conversation between him and a friend was enjoyable, with the added bonus of being informative as well, with comments based on one of the books he was reading at the time or one of the thousands he had read since he was his student. days. Books were one of the great loves of his life, and his private collection was huge, perhaps the largest in Malta today.
His love for books exceeded that of his family, his wife Josephine who he lost only two years ago, his sons Jean Paul and Mark, and his daughter Simone Stilon. He was also a wonderful grandfather, and I have a vivid memory of his joy when he told me of his grandson who had done well at a British university.
He was an intellectual in the field of science, with which he tried to keep up to date, he published several papers, and in politics, he was a Nationalist sympathizer, he played a significant role for many years and was President of AŻAD for some years. Perhaps the most important public role he had was as chairman of Heritage Malta between 2003 and 2008, years in which the amazing exhibition Terracotta Soldiers from China was held, as well as an important exhibition of Caravaggio, and the significant underwater exploration project in Xlendi was given a big boost. His courtesy and effortless bonhomie towards all staff helped make Heritage Malta a pleasant organization to work for during his years there.
Mario wrote articles but never published books. He himself was a hiking book, rather a hiking encyclopedia.
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