Quarrymaster, haulier and industrial historian; Born January 24, 1931; Died October 22, 2007.

Bill Lind, who has died aged 76, was born in Johnstone, a town that would remain at the centre of his life as he developed three separate careers as quarrymaster, road haulage operator and latterly as an industrial historian.

He was the eldest of three brothers, the only one to enter the family business. His education was at Croftinloan Preparatory School in Pitlochry, to where he had been evacuated during the war. He attended Merchiston Castle. Leaving school at 16 he began training as a shipwright in Lamont's yard at Port Glasgow.

At 18 there was National Service in the RASC, emphasising his love of transport. He was heard to remark that if he had to go to war, at least he would not have to walk. He was later commissioned, became adjutant of his regiment and was responsible for the maintenance of Montgomery's command vehicles after the war. Later he joined the Territorial Army, rising to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He retired from the TA in 1972 but then served for many years as a member of the Regular Forces Resettlement Committee for Scotland.

After National Service, in 1951, Bill joined his father in the family business of William Lind & Co Ltd, quarrymasters and public works contractors at Elderslie. He took over the firm, which operated quarries at Johnstone, Bridge of Weir, Beith, Ullapool and Blair Atholl. Such was the demand for stone and its transportation that in 1967 he bought another quarry at Loanhead and formed Loanhead Transport in partnership with Donald Malcolm of W H Malcolm. This became his main business interest after selling his quarry operations to Tarmac PLC in 1972. He continued to manage the Loanhead Transport business until Donald bought out his 40% holding in 1987.

These two retrials from quarrying and haulage gave Bill the time and opportunity to pursue his long-term hobbies of industrial history, photography, technical drawings and ship models. He had been chairman of the Renfrewshire Archaeological Society and of the Scottish Society for Industrial Archaeology. This brought him into touch with the Business Archives Council of Scotland in 1975, a body devoted to developing an interface between the business and academic communities with the aim of saving and preserving Scotland's rich heritage of business records. He became its main working officer as honorary secretary, working with the National Archives of Scotland and with colleagues in the universities.

This led him in 1987 to establish The Aggregate Foundation, a charitable trust, to provide income to Glasgow University to establish the Centre for Business History in Scotland, the first fully-funded centre for research in business history in Britain. The following year he was awarded an honorary degree in recognition of his service to business archives and industrial history. He had saved for the nation important collections such as the Adamson Robertson ships negatives, and had greatly enriched the Glasgow Transport Museum with the many ship models he had given.

His sense of humour evident in his quarrymasters choice of name for the Aggregate Foundation was evident again two years later when he established the Ballast Trust which financed the setting up of a fine technical archive service based in Johnstone, but linked to the Centre for Business History. The Ballast Trust service is given without charge to the National Archives.

Lind was an intensely private man who pursued his personal interests with efficiency. His personal and business life was highly organised, even disciplined and regimented. He had a mind obsessed with detail and order. He liked to remain in the background as others implemented his wishes. In all his activities, he commanded respect.

He married Margaret Robertson in 1956 and they enjoyed holidays in locations such as North Berwick or Campbeltown, until her growing infirmity with rheumatoid arthritis limited their travels. Margaret predeceased him in May 2001.

Throughout his life Bill had a vision of the importance of our industrial past. He was a man of strong views and independent mind and was able to use his time and skills to make a major contribution to Scotland's business history and business archives. In the Centre for Business History at Glasgow University and in the Ballast Trust at Johnstone, he has left a legacy for our industrial and business heritage. By Tony Slaven