An official funeral will be held on Friday for former Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister Charles Maynard, the Cabinet Office has announced.
The service will be held at 11:00 a.m. at Christ Church Cathedral on George Street.
Maynard died of an enlarged heart last Tuesday.
He was in North Abaco campaigning for the upcoming by-election.
He was 42-years-old.
The former cabinet minister’s body was secretly flown back to the capital aboard a Sky Bahamas flight the following day.
According to a release issued shortly after his death, Maynard, the coordinator of the Free National Movement’s (FNM) by-election campaign, was driving along with party Secretary General Michael Foulkes in the Blackwood area, heading into Dundas and Murphy Town when he fell ill.
According to the Cabinet statement, Maynard’s body will be interred at Woodlawn Gardens on Soldier Road.
FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and Minister of National Security Dr. Bernard Nottage are expected to speak during the funeral.
Rev. Neil Nairn, Assistant Priest at St Agnes Anglican Church will deliver the eulogy, Dean Patrick Johnson will perform the commendation and the Rev Sebastian Campbell will also be asked to participate.
Maynard’s body will be viewed at the Free National Movement Headquarters on Mackey Street beginning today until Wednesday, August 22.
It will then lie-in-state at the House of Assembly on Thursday until Friday and then be taken in procession to the cathedral.
Maynard served as the National Chairman of the FNM and co-coordinator of the by-election campaign for the North Abaco Constituency when he fell ill and died.
Affectionately called Charlie, he was born on June 6, 1970 to Edward Andrew “Dud” Maynard and Isadora Maynard. He attended Queen’s College and graduated from the College of The Bahamas.
Maynard was a young entrepreneur, who developed his family’s business establishment, the Corner Motel on Carmichael Road and Faith Avenue.
He is married to Zelena Maynard and is the father of three children.
An avid community activist and Junkanoo participant, Maynard also served in several civic and social organisations, including the Masonic fraternity.
Maynard joined the FNM in early 2006, shortly after the dissolution the Coalition for Democratic Reform (CDR), of which he had been the deputy leader.
He won the Golden Isles Constituency in the May 2007 General Election and was appointed Minister of State for Culture in the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports and Culture.
In late 2009, he was promoted to full ministerial status as Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, and was instrumental in the development of the new Thomas A. Robinson Track and Field Stadium, which opened in early 2012.
After the May 2012 General Election, he was elected to serve as the FNM’s national chairman, the responsibility he carried out “with his customary zeal and dedication,” the FNM said.
