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The President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has paid glowing tribute to the late Administrator General of Presidential Estates, Mr Joe D. Issachar, for the valuable services he rendered to the nation in his lifetime. Receiving a family delegation that was at the Flagstaff House yesterday to inform the President of his death, Mr Mahama said Mr Issachar paid his dues to the country and he would forever be remembered. Mr Issachar, who is also a retired Head of the Civil Service, died in a London hospital on July 1, aged 64. Service to nation "Mr Issachar was a colleague of ours working together with us in the service of the nation and his character was absolutely a service to the nation, " President Mahama said. He recalled that in 2009, when the Professor Mills government assumed office, Mr Issachar, as head of the Civil Service, was very instrumental in helping the new government to settle by way of postings that helped the administration to function effectively. "He stayed on for a while until he hit the age of 60 when he went on retirement," he said, adding that �the President had wanted to give him an extension but he wanted to move to other areas of work.� President Mahama said when the Presidential Transition Act was passed, there was the need to get an accomplished civil servant to be appointed the Administrator General, as provided under the Act, to help implement the provisions. The mantle fell on Mr Issachar who was then at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) as a lecturer. "We brought him back and he discharged his work with distinction. He helped us to set up the inventory of presidential assets and all the necessary things that were required to set up the office of the Administrator General," the President said. Ailment President Mahama said the government did everything to help save his life during his ailment, "but God knows best as he could not survive." The President therefore said the government would co-operate with the family to give him a fitting farewell. The leader of the delegation, Mr Samuel Nlary, recalled the various positions the late Issachar occupied, including working as secretary to the vice-president in 2001, and said in all these positions, he demonstrated his competence. Mr Nlary also extended the gratitude of the bereaved family to the President for all that he did to help Mr Issachar during his ailment.