Gibson Biggart

WHEN Gibson Biggart asked you to do something for him, all the time fixing you with his engaging smile, it was difficult to refuse. At the same time, when others approached him for his support or help, they were rarely turned down for his life was one of service to others.

After starting his school life at Glasgow Academy, he went on to Merchiston in 1932, where he excelled at athletics and emerged as a stalwart of an unbeaten rugby XV. He gained entry to Glasgow University in 1936 and it was then that his tireless commitment to charities started. He, and a friend dressed as a dwarf, set up their pitch in Central Station and Gibson's conjuring skills entertained passing travellers, raising a substantial sum for Charities Day.

He graduated BSc in Engineering in 1940 having already joined the Royal Artillery section of the TA in 1938. He fought in Europe, was mentioned in dispatches, and ended his distinguished Army career as a major. In between times, he played for the Scottish Services rugby team in 1942 and BAOR in 1944-45.

Prior to the war he met Jane Fairlie. They married in 1942 and had a full and very happy life together. They were an enormous strength to each other, no more so than when they had to face first the loss of their daughter, Elizabeth, as a result of illness, and secondly their son, Robin, as a result of the Edinburgh-Glasgow train crash in 1984.

Gibson joined Jane as a member of the New Church and, apart from the great spiritual strength this gave him, he served the church as a trustee both at local and national level, over a long number of years.

After the war, Gibson joined the family business of Watson & McLean and, moving quickly up the ladder, was eventually to oversee the merger with Wheways to form Wheway Watson, where he was chairman for many years. In 1973 he became the founder chairman of Clyde Petroleum, the fledgling Scottish oil company formed to apply for UK drilling permits in the 1974 round of licence allocations.

Under his chairmanship, the company achieved much in an industry where the oil giants were used to calling the shots. He particularly enjoyed his association with Clyde, none more so than on one bi-annual inspection of the company's activities in Ecuador which resulted in a final long weekend with the party in the Galapagos Islands. On the last night the Clyde party entertained the locals and other tourists to an impromptu cabaret at which Gibson's conjuring was the star turn. On this occasion, the proceeds went to the Charles Darwin Foundation.

In 1960-61 he was president of the Glasgow University Engineers Society and in the seventies, having first been chairman of the British delegation of the International Standards Organisation, he then became president worldwide of the ISO for his particular industry (chain manufacture and lifting gear).

Gibson gave freely of his time to others acting as governor of both Glasgow Academy and Merchiston, the latter from 1971 to 1989. It was during the latter part of this appointment that he spearheaded the raising of sev-eral hundred thousand pounds for school appeals.

He was Scottish chairman of the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind from 1952-72 and assisted the board of Queen Vic-toria School, and later the Thistle Foundation in raising development funds. There were lots of other acts of support and kindness to public and private bodies and individuals, that most did not know about.

A zest for living meant that there was an active sporting life reflected in his fishing with the West of Scotland Angling Club and his involvement with curling on the board of Stirling Ice Rink. He also loved his garden. How-ever, he was perhaps most at home on the golf course and he enjoyed the exceptional distinction of captaining a Merchiston Halford Hewitt side to a semi-final in 1975 before winning the trophy the following year.

Gibson is survived by his wife, Jane, his daughter, Jane, his son, Willie, and 10 grandchildren.