TRIBUTES have been paid to a former local authority chief executive who has died at the age of 68.
Bernard Devine was the first person to take up the position at North Ayrshire Council after transferring from the old authority, Cunninghame District Council, in 1995.
Mr Devine, who started his career as a solicitor with Airdrie Burgh, was the council's most senior officer for 18 years and one of Scotland's longest-serving chief executives when he retired in 2004.
He was widowed in 2006, is survived by two sons, James, Kenneth and a daughter, Susan. His elder daughter died at the age of 29 some years ago.
Labour Group Leader Councillor Peter McNamara, who was elected to Cunninghame District Council in 1988, recalls a "gentleman" who cared passionately about local government.
"I will never forget the help that Bernard gave me, and all new councillors, in those early days.
"Bernard was a quiet, unassuming man but he was very diligent in carrying out his duties as chief executive. It was a joy to work with him - and his wife Alice.''
Elma Murray, chief executive at North Ayrshire Council for five years, said: "I have very fond memories of him. He was someone that I was able to learn a lot from."
Council leader Willie Gibson said Bernard was a respected figurehead who was always fair with people.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article