Robert Campbell Barr

Friday 19 October 2012

Businessman and health campaigner;

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Iain G Macdonald

Born: May 28, 1943; Died: April 26, 2012.

APPRECIATION

Businessman and health campaigner Campbell Barr, who has died after a long illness bravely borne, was recently the subject of a fitting tribute in the quarterly magazine of the National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society (NASS) .

Campbell, as he was always known, was born in Gourock. After completing his schooling at Gourock Eastern, Gourock High and Greenock High, he advanced to Rolls-Royce-sponsored further education through Strathclyde University, where he obtained a degree in mechanical engineering.Campbell joined Rolls-Royce at it Hillington Factory, in Glasgow, progressing through the various disciplines and ending up as the facilities manager. He then moved south of the Border, initially to Bristol then to Derby prior to a stint abroad in Canada. He then returned to Scotland as managing director at Peebles Electric (Edinburgh), part of the Rolls-Royce Industrial Group Manufacturing Division. He retired from there having served Rolls-Royce for 35 years.When Campbell visited his doctor with upper body pain about 10 years ago, he thought it was nothing more than a frozen shoulder, but the real cause of the pain turned out to be Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS). As the discomfort progressed through his body, his GP sent him for physiotherapy at St John's Hospital in Livingston, and it was there he was eventually diagnosed. He suffered for many years with AS, a degenerative disease, which meant early retirement from his position. Following his retirement from industry, Campbell spent a great deal of his time his time raising awareness of AS through his work, initially as secretary and, latterly, as chairman of the Edinburgh branch of the NASS. He provided information and support for members, both within the branch and across the broader NASS organisation.As well as representing the organisation at rheumatology conferences, he also participated in an international project. In August 2008 he joined nine other AS patients in Dusseldorf, in Germany, to assist with a new project to develop a new tool to measure quality of life in Ankylosing Spondylitis. It entailed agreeing on the content and the wording of questions to be used. All of the discussions took place in English even though the participants were from countries including Canada, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Turkey and the US as well as the UK representatives. More recently he represented NASS, two or three time a year, at the meetings in the Scottish Parliament of the Cross Party Group on Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Conditions chaired by Helen Eadie. Campbell was universally respected and liked. He gave up much time, and applied his best effort to ensure that AS sufferers' problems were both appreciated by the public and treated such that they received the best care available; and it was appreciated by all.Campbell is survived by his widow Islay, his son Steven and his grandchildren Robert and Elizabeth.

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