Businessman

Businessman

Born: August 31, 1930; Died: October 26, 2014.

RONALD Wylie, who has died aged 84, was a leading figure in the paper and cardboard-making industry, serving for several years as chief executive of the 210-year-old Fife papermaking company Tullis Russell.

During his 30 years with the Glentrothes-based firm, a family operation founded in 1804, he saw it expand to become one of Scotland's biggest companies, still growing around the globe, notably in North America and Asia. He would later become chief executive of Young Enterprise Scotland, based on Wellington Street, Glasgow, which provides training and practical learning experiences to young people of all backgrounds. That role won him an honorary doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from the University of Strathclyde in 1995.

Ronald James Wylie was born in Edinburgh on August 31, 1930, and attended Melville College (now Stewart's Melville College), at the time on Edinburgh's Melville Street.

He went on to graduate from Edinburgh University and qualified as a chartered accountant before his national service intervened in the post-war years. He completed his service in Leeds, where he met Brenda Wright, a local lass working at the Leeds Royal Infirmary, and married her in 1955. That same year, they moved north to Lundin Links, Fife, and Mr Wylie started work as a cost accountant for the Tullis Russell paper mill at Markinch, Glenrothes. He worked his way up to company secretary, then joint managing director in the 1970s and finally CEO in 1981.

Although he was formally an accountant, he was involved in every aspect of the Markinch mill, including negotiations with trades unions and helping expand the company's range of products, and he was instrumental in seeing Tullis Russell expand to produce specialist coated paper.

The company is now majority-owned by its employees and, despite the recession, has seen its sales expand dramatically in North America and Asia. Mr Wylie was awarded an OBE in 1985 for his work with the company. It was after leaving Tullis Russell in 1985 that he was appointed chief executive of Young Enterprise Scotland.

Mr Wylie was a well-known figure in his community and a member and elder of Dysart St Clair Parish church, Kirkcaldy, for nearly half a century. He had begun his church work as a young man with the Youth Fellowship in Blackhall, Edinburgh.

A keen sailor, he was a member and past commodore of Burntisland Sailing Club, Fife, and regularly sailed his yacht Saorsa (Gaelic for "freedom") from Oban to the Western Isles, including Iona and Mull. He became closely involved with the Iona Community, a Christian group with its mainland headquarters on Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street.

He sailed well into his seventies and was also a passionate music lover, regularly attending classical concerts and the opera and possessing a formidable collection of music CDs. According to his family, he liked dabbling in stocks and shares and enjoyed a glass of good wine. He was a member of the Ravenscraig Probus Club, a grouping of professional and business people.

Ronald Wylie died at his home in Kirkcaldy. He is survived by his wife Brenda, sons Roderick and Stuart and grandchildren David and Emma.