Alexander Lawrie A top banking executive recruited by Sir Fred Goodwin has left almost £2m in her will.

Joanna Davidson, who died last October aged 50 after a year-long battle with cancer, was head of corporate responsibility for the Royal Bank of Scotland.

She was recruited by then banking boss Sir Fred in 2003 to launch a new corporate and social responsibility division. Mrs Davidson's father Viscount George Younger, the former Conservative Scottish Secretary of State for Scotland, who was also a former RBS chairman, died from cancer in January 2003.

Ms Davidson's bequest is largely made up of her share of family-owned property and shares in RBS, Lloyds TSB and Standard Life.

The banker left all of her estate to be split equally among her three children and her husband, John Davidson.

Born in 1958, Joanna Rosalind Younger was the second child and only daughter of George and Diana Younger.

After graduating from St Andrews University in 1980, Ms Davidson was encouraged by her father to go into business, where she initially joined paper merchant Wiggins Teape as a management trainee. She later acted as chief of staff to the company's chairman, John Worlidge.

After spells with Chitty Food Group as marketing director and United Auctions, Scotland's leading livestock auctioneers, Ms Davidson was personally headhunted by Sir Fred in 2003 to spearhead RBS's new corporate and social responsibility division.

The talented businesswoman was also put in charge of editing and publishing the bank's annual report and numerous other internal publications.

Projects such as the Eco-Schools programme in Edinburgh and Recycle Scotland, in which RBS donated old office furniture to charities and schools, demonstrated her commitment to presenting the bank's activities in a positive light.

Ms Davidson's work was recognised when RBS won the 2008 Scotland Plc Sustainability Award and was included in a newly published list of best practice corporate responsibility reporting.

During this time she was also a non-executive director of Shires Investment Trust and a governor at the ultra-exclusive private school, Glenalmond College, Perthshire.

Included in Ms Davidson's total will of £1,990,812.99 was her share in the family home at Easter Leckie, the Leckie Estate and Leckie House, all in Gargunnock, near Stirling.

She is survived by her second husband, John Davidson, and their three children Lucy, Hamish and Molly.