Sandy Beveridge.

Forensic chemist, lawyer and teacher.

Born: February 17, 1940

Died: December 28, 2014.

Alexander (Sandy) Beveridge, who has died aged 74, was forensic chemist, author, lawyer and teacher and a world expert on forensics, training law enforcement officers and scientists from around the world on investigation techniques. He was a fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada and spent 30 years in the Forensic Science Service of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

He grew up in Clarkston, Glasgow where he attended Eastwood Secondary and studied inorganic chemistry to PhD level at Glasgow University.

He first went to live in Canada in 1964, one week after marrying Anne (née Sloss) in their native Glasgow and two weeks after gaining his PhD. The couple emigrated three years later, after Mr Beveridge spent a year doing post-doctorate research at Cambridge University. Embodying the ideals of lifelong learning and insatiable curiosity, he went on to earn an MBA, an LL.B and certificates in leisure pursuits such as shiatsu massage, sailing and Aikido.

During his 50-year career, he was a forensic chemist, author, lawyer and teacher and at the Forensic Science Service of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, he headed the chemistry section in the Vancouver laboratory for many years. A world expert on forensics, he also educated the next generation of forensic investigators at British Columbia Institute of Technology. In his spare time, he taught and tutored thousands of students in both chemistry and business through the Vancouver School Board, Open Learning Agency and Thompson Rivers University.

Away from work, he indulged his life-long passions for golf, fishing and canoeing. A late convert to Hawaiian holidays, he discovered a love for snorkelling and running on the beach.

He returned to Scotland regularly for both business and pleasure and always tried to make time for a visit to Arran, scene of early family holidays, or his sister Anne's holiday chalet on Loch Fyne.

He recently celebrated his golden wedding with his wife and other members of his Scottish family in Glasgow. He lived a full and positive life and found joy in watching his four children become independent adults and the next generation of his family grow, at home in Vancouver and in Denmark.

He faced the last difficult weeks of his illness with the same fortitude and wry sense of humour with which he tackled all of life's inevitable set-backs and challenges.

He is survived by his wife Anne, his sister Anne, his children David, Ian. Robert and Fiona and his seven grandchildren Annika, Zachary, Bianka, Michael, Kamilla, Claire and Megan.