Early life and education Mark Herdman was born in
Rhu,
Scotland, on 26 April 1932, to Joan (née Tennant) and Claud Herdman, a Commander of the
Royal Navy.
Governor of British Virgin Islands Herdman was appointed
Governor of the British Virgin Islands from 1986 to 1991. In 1989,
Hurricane Hugo struck the
British Virgin Islands in 1989 during Herdman's tenure, devastating the islands. Hurricane Hugo was the first major hurricane to strike the territory since 1960. Governor Herdman oversaw the British Virgin Islands'
emergency management programs and recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo. Herdman appointed the BVI's first full-time
disaster preparedness coordinator, which led to founding of the Department of Disaster Management of the British Virgin Islands in 1993, after he left office. In 1990, Herdman was named as a Commander of the
Order of the British Empire. In a statement following his death in 2015,
Premier Orlando Smith praised Herdman's role in the territory's recovery from Hurricane Hugo, noting that he had "helped to lay the foundation for the development of the modern Virgin Islands' disaster management systems and operations."
Later life He left his position in the British Virgin Islands in 1991. Herdman served as a member of the
European Union's Peace Monitoring Mission during the
break-up of Yugoslavia before retiring from diplomacy in 1992. Mark Herdman died on 5 August 2015 at the age of 83. He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth (Betsy) Dillon, whom he married in 1963, with whom he had three children, Patrick, Deirdre, and Bridget, and four grandchildren. He was buried at St. Mary's Church in
Worplesdon,
Guildford, Surrey, on 25 August 2015. ==References==