Eric Hamilton

ERIC HAMILTON, who has died aged 87, was best known in his native Glasgow for his avant garde audiovisual electronics store – EM Hamilton Hi-Fi at 116 Queen Margaret Drive, a mecca for discerning music lovers during the last three decades of the 20th century. "Eric" was written above the door of his shop and inside you could find, in the words of the shop's website, "the man, the sound, the vision".

But the name Eric M Hamilton was known far beyond Glasgow. He was an internationally recognised expert on the great American bandleader Glenn Miller and one of the world's most prominent collectors of rare or original Miller recordings. He became known not only for his unique collection of Miller records but for his research into the trombonist/bandleader's time in England in 1944, before his small aircraft disappeared over the Channel in December of that year while he was on his way to entertain allied troops.

Mr Hamilton always played down his own role, but his research eventually helped create the Glenn Miller Museum in the control tower of the Second World War RAF airfield at Twinwood, Bedfordshire, where the bandleader flew from on his last journey. Mr Hamilton's collection and archives also became the basis for many books on the bandleader, notably on his time in England.

Recently he donated his unique collection of recordings to the Glenn Miller Museum at the University of Colorado, where Miller had studied and met his wife Helen. The Millers' adopted son Steve invited Mr Hamilton to the US on many occasions and considered the Glaswegian a major figure in reviving Miller's music to new generations.

One of Mr Hamilton's other proudest achievements was serving as president of the Radio Industries Club of Scotland, now part of the renowned UK-wide Television and Radio Industries Club. He was a regular speaker at the club's annual meetings at the Gleneagles Hotel.

Eric Monteith Hamilton was born in Parson Street in Glasgow's Townhead district, the same street where architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh had been born more than half a century earlier.

He attended Knightswood secondary school before volunteering for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. He was sent for training to Horta Bay in the Azores, where Portugal had leased naval bases to Britain. As part of Operation Alacrity the bases became key to the Battle of the Atlantic, helping the allies to hunt German U-boats and protect vital convoys of weapons and supplies from North America to Europe.

Mr Hamilton spent most of his spare time listening to music, notably his favourite – Glenn Miller. From US Navy sailors in nearby bases, he got his first Miller V-Discs – 12-inch, 78 rpm "Victory" records featuring major artists to boost morale among US and allied troops. These were the start of what would become his major collection of Glenn Miller recordings on disc and tape.

He also collected rare Shellac recordings of Miller, which he transcribed onto his Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder and, in later years, onto CD. What he loved was to find different versions, different tapes, different recordings, each one slightly different, a slightly different tempo perhaps, or emphasising a different instrument. If you went into his shop, you never called him a Glenn Miller fan, more of an enthusiast.

After the war, Mr Hamilton was seconded to the Admiralty in London before returning to Glasgow, working first for Barclay Curle shipbuilders at Whiteinch before focusing on his beloved music by getting a job as sales manager for the hi-fi division of the George Steele company on St George's Road.

After marrying Hilda Dickie he opened his own shop, Eric M Hamilton Hi-Fi, in the early 1970s on Queen Margaret Drive, just down the road from BBC Scotland. The couple set up home in Bearsden.

The store concentrated on upmarket audio and visual equipment, initially stereos, which boomed during the 1970s, amplifiers, speakers, tape decks, increasingly large TVs, and later video recorders, DVD players, state-of- the-art Bose headphones and ultimately Blu-ray players.

Although he did not focus on old records or musical instruments, Mr Hamilton's shop attracted audiophiles from around the UK, from BBC staff and Glasgow University students to jazz musicians including Johnny Dankworth, Cleo Laine, bandleader Vic Lewis, trombonist Bryan Free and American jazz greats Stan Getz and Shorty Rogers, all of whom became close friends of the Hamiltons. Glaswegian comedian Rikki Fulton was another friend and a regular customer.

After selling the shop in 1994 and retiring – the new owner retained the Hamilton name because of its reputation – he concentrated on another of his passions, geneaology, studying the family trees of himself, his wife Hilda and other Scots who caught his fancy.

In retirement, the couple eventually moved from Bearsden to Stirling.

Having been born on Christmas Day, Eric Hamilton died on Burns night in a hospital in Stirling. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Hilda, their daughter Beverley, son Scott and grandchildren Katriona, Rebecca and Peter.