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His legend is so sprawling, his accomplishments so immense that there is no tidy summation, no concise epitaph that we can offer: Price formed the nation and molded its political culture; "Because of him, Belize" - perhaps that is as simply as it can be put. Today, we walked around his towering legend, and examined his contribution with input from some senior political personalities:

Jules Vasquez Reporting
Five days after he was hospitalized - former Prime Minister George Price died at the Belize Healthcare Partners at 6:30 this morning.

Today, political leaders from both sides of the divide spoke on the pre-eminence of this singular figure in Belizean history:

Hon. John Briceno, PUP Leader
"One of the many important achievements of Mr. Price was the whole idea of identity as a Belizean whereby he successfully fought our colonial masters in how they were dividing us as a people. There are the Mestizos in the North, the Creoles in Belize City and the Garifuna in the South. He was one of the first leaders that started to talk about Belize as 'We are all one we are all Belizeans.'"

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Well Jules, he clearly was the apostle of Belizean nationalism. I think the foremost architect of Belizean identity. You know at the forum that we had last week I reflected on the fact that the singular devotion that he brought to the business of leading the country is clearly unequal and so he is a giant among Belizeans. He has to be the person who has made the most indelible mark on modern day Belizean history."

Hon. Francis Fonseca
"When I think of George Price those are the two words that come to mind; service and humility. He obviously gave his entire life to Belize. I think a lot of you know that Mr. Price really wanted to be a Jesuit priest, he really wanted to be a priest and I think when circumstances prevented him. hurricane and other things, his family, his father got ill. When those things happened, circumstances pushed him in another direction and he in a way found his calling in politics and he lived those values of a Jesuit priest in his politics and that's why I think we remember him for his service and for his humility because those are really the marks of a priest: service, humility, complete commitment of yourself to your country. He didn't have an immediate family, so his family was our nation."

Such a special figure that - a former adversary Michael Finnegan recited a poem for the Father Of The Nation:

Hon. Michael Finnegan
"O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weathered every rock, the prize we sought
is won.
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all
exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim
and daring;

But O heart! heart! heart!
Leave you not the little spot,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the
bells;
Rise up-for you the flag is flung-for you the
bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths-for you
the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager
faces turning;

Here Captain! here Father of the Nation!
This arm I push beneath you;
It is some dream that on the deck
You've fallen cold and dead.

My captain does not answer, his lips are pale and
still,
The Father of the Nation cannot not feel my arm, he has no pulse
nor will;
But the ship, the ship, is anchored safe, its voyage
closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship comes in with
object won.

Exult O shore, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead."

And while Finnegan was moved to a piece of verse he first learned in his childhood - others recounted stories from their own childhood:

Hon. John Briceno, PUP Leader
"There are many things that I learned from George Price and just this morning I was sharing that I remember when I was in Standard 5, when Mr. Price went to visit Orange Walk in one of his meetings he was having dinner and I had the opportunity to sit around the same table with Mr. Price and I remember his looking at me and started to speak in Spanish and he asked me if I knew how to speak Spanish and I said yes, and he told me that it is important to learn two different languages. He said that we have a unique opportunity in Belize because English is our first language but we need to recognize that we are surrounded by Spanish speaking countries; Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and there are millions of people and he said that it is important for us as a nation to be able to speak Spanish because the future of Belize lies with the Caribbean, but also with Central America. That is a story that I will never forget because here is this man that is about to lead this country into Independence and speaking to me as an eleven year boy."

Hon. Francis Fonseca
"On the personal side for me, I remember the private conservations. I've been around Mr. Price since I was 14. I remember spending time at the Belize Times with him working with him there, folding papers with him there as a young boy, working with him, and sharing meals together. I remember sitting in his home, talking to him about the work that he did over the last 50 years. Those are the memories that I will cherish - the private conversations; the private memories."

Hon. John Briceno, PUP Leader
"When Mr. Price was first taken to the districts in 1955 and he was taken to Trinidad village in the Orange Walk District, of course there were no roads, they went in a little picado to a horse. And Don Chicho Urbina was telling me he was taking him and when he took him to the village and he pointed out that this is Mr. Price - all the villagers were shocked, they said, 'This is the Mr. Price that is going to lead us for our Independence?' 'This is the man that is going to get the British out of Belize?' They thought that Mr. Price was this giant; strong and very forceful, but here was this humble person, tall but slender in body, soft spoken but with that sense of humility and service to the people. Mr. Price managed to achieve Independence."

Independence and nationhood were his major accomplishments - but the vision and the perseverance to get there were probably his most important traits - according to his biographer Godfrey Smith:

Godfrey Smith, Price Biographer
"It is my belief - my conviction that he has been the only leader, the only political figure in Belize who has truly offered up a vision backed by conviction and determination and actually produced results."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"In terms of his personal traits, first of all there was the fact that he never married, he never had a family and so as I said he was singularly devoted to politics. That was his life work, that was his mission. Nobody else then and nobody else certainly now found themselves in that set of circumstances. Again, the fact that he really saw himself as the Father of the Nation even before Independence and acted that out. He was the politician that most tried to be in touch with regular folks including in the remotest, in most inaccessible villages of our country. This business of George Price in some Mayan hut sharing something from the common pot is indelibly etched in all our memories."

Hon. John Briceno, PUP Leader
"Certainly I think the first thing is that he had a very clear vision as to where he wanted to take Belize. He wanted an independent Belize. But also that dedication, that full 100% of everything that he was doing, was to be able to reach to that achievement of Independence. Another issue was his ability to work with people - this humility, the way that he would go about speaking to people. He had that ability to bring people together and to be always this humble person that is prepared to listen not only to the Kings and Prime Ministers and Presidents but even to the man on the street, to the campesino in the districts, in their farms."

And while Price had the common touch - what is it that molded this iconic figure, how is that he arrived at that particular juncture in history to birth the nationalist movement and father independence? For his biographer, it is a riddle:

Godfrey Smith, Price Biographer
"Looking at the man he was prior to his rise to prominence in politics. What you had was a less than average student, a less than average scholastic career. In other words the man was usually near the bottom of his class rather than even at the middle. He did not complete his studies to be a priest and he was the apprentice to one of the most ruthless capitalists in the history of this country - one would say based on that - that is less than adequate preparation, or perhaps with that kind of history one could hardly expect - as you are alluding to - that he would end up being the Father of the Nation, one of the most convicted and determined politicians to lead the fight against colonialism and to independence."

Jules Vasquez
"But history brought him to a certain moment, where some people arrive at that moment and they retreat. Without any disrespect whatsoever, Leigh Richardson, for example left the country and went to live in another country. He was a political prisoner having served time for sedition...as did John Smith who left. So, certain people arrive at a juncture in history and they retreat or they fail. Mr. Price was brought to that juncture and delivered. What was it about him that made him arrive and grasp it?"

Godfrey Smith, Price Biographer
"In two words; uncommon discipline. As you adverted to earlier, Price was never married, never had a romantic liaison, and was celibate until his death by his own admission to me. His reason for that he said was because he didn't want anything to get in the way of his quest for self-government and Independence. He didn't want any family who would suffer if he got jail or something untoward that happened to him. So the answer to your question in my view, when man and moment met: the qualities that Price had in him that enabled him to act on that moment and eventually triumph were his discipline, his vision, his courage because he had courage."

And more than courage he had a singular personal style

Godfrey Smith, Price Biographer
"He lived as I said not the defiance of materialism, just the bare essentials: a radio, no television, no record player, no compact disc player. For most for his life no refrigerator, just keeping books and having no material attachment to anything."

Hon. John Briceno, PUP Leader
"Another major lesson is that issue of humility whereby he has always served with this humility that to him - he was never pretentious - being well dressed or having expensive things were never important to him. What were important for him were his people and his country."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"One of course was struck by the complexity of George Price, the fact that he could speak in such apparently simple terms - could appear to be such a straightforward individual when we all knew that this was an individual who ran extremely deep. The way that he could pass himself off as I said as a simple individual when in fact there was no doubt that this was somebody possessed of a tremendous intellect, tremendous knowledge and learning. That was something that always struck me about him."

"One is clear that here was a man and you have to ask the question when comes such another? And the answer is never. It just can't happen again."

Hon. John Briceno, PUP Leader
"Whenever we make decisions, we need to think back - what would Mr. Price do? How would he handle these problems because he met all sorts of problems when he started way back in 1950's."

We'll have a little more discussion about Price's contribution later on in the newscast. Funeral details have not been finalized, but here's what we know - and we stress, it is unofficial: There will be a state funeral for him on Monday September 26th, in Belmopan on the stairs of the National Assembly - possibly with some counterpart event following in the city.

He may be entombed at the family space at Lord Ridge Cemetery in the city, or possibly at the George Price Center in Belmopan. These are decisions his family is deliberating tonight, and as soon as they are finalized, we'll let you know. To provide a brief timeline of the events that led to his death: Price made his last major public appearance at the PUP National Convention in Dangriga 11 months ago. At the time he was showing the infirmity of old age - and had reportedly suffered his first fall - but he still gave a speech to the gathering.

His health has been falling since then and things took a dramatic downward turn last week Wednesday morning at 5:30 am when he fell in his bathroom. He received a major injury to his head and had to undergo surgery. He survived the procedure, but as we understand it, never regained consciousness and passed away.