Thomas Cook

Thomas Cook, who has died aged 100, was raised in a family that respected hard work and integrity, an ethos he lived by all his life. It saw him establish his business acumen as a boy, selling rolls door-to-door before school, rise through the ranks of the Army to serve on the personal staff of Field Marshal Montgomery and later expand the international success of Glasgow engineering firm John Dalglish and Sons.

The youngest of nine children, he was born in Largs to John Cook, a baker and his wife Janet. He was six when they moved to Glasgow where his mother established a bakery business.

As a boy he got involved in the family trade selling rolls round local houses each morning before lessons. The experience proved useful on several fronts in later life. It instilled a sense of commitment and reliability; it taught him the value of money and encouraged ingenuity as he became his own problem-solver.

Educated at Queen's Park High School, he could have ended up as a teacher of Spanish however a lack of Latin scuppered a suggestion that he take a languages degree. It was decided he would train instead as a chartered accountant, serving his apprenticeship Hourston (correct) MacFarlane and Co.

In 1934 he met his future wife, Ella, on the top deck of a bus. After qualifying in 1935 he joined leading Scottish CA firm, Thomson McLintock in their London office and travelled the UK conducting audits. He returned to Glasgow in 1938, at the invitation of Moores Carson & Watson, and married Ella on April 5, 1939.

Having joined the Territorial Army in 1938 he was mobilised on the eve of World War II, in August 1939. Quickly identified as officer material, he progressed swiftly from gunner in the Royal Artillery, through a variety of postings, to staff captain working in administration at AA Command HQ in London.

When General Sir Bernard Montgomery (later Field Marshal Montgomery), commander of 21 Army Group, required a staff captain, he was appointed to Monty's personal staff. It was 1944 and preparations for Operation Overlord, the D Day invasion of Normandy, were in the final stages.

On D Day plus 10, Mr Cook found himself at the heart of the action when he was detailed to hand deliver a package for the commander to the Arromanches bridgehead. He crossed the Channel immediately and spent the rest of the war in Europe.

At Brussels, 21 Army Group commandeered the Palace Residence, recently vacated by the Luftwaffe. During his time there Mr Cook he was promoted to deputy assistant military secretary with the rank of major. He was also befriended by a local stockbroker. Their families remained friends for more than 40 years.

After the German surrender he moved with the Group to the Hanover area. From there he visited Dachau, where he met some of the "walking skeletons" who were the remaining captives, and later visited Hitler's bunker.

In peacetime he decided he had no future in chartered accountancy. During the war he had met the brother-in-law of the man in charge of the Glasgow engineering company John Dalglish & Sons and, on being demobbed, joined the firm as deputy managing director.

He stepped up to MD when the boss retired. That coincided with the firm being bought by an American concern and it became Proctor Dalglish, later changing to Proctor Schwartz when it was taken over by the SCM Corporation. He held senior management posts in all these organisations, joined their board and mixed easily in the company of American multi-millionaires.

Left to run the business the way he wanted, he constantly strove to secure new contracts for the 400-strong workforce.

During the 1970s he returned to live in Largs and retired in 1979. A great supporter of St Columba's Church, Largs, he was involved in fundraising projects including a campaign for a new roof.

Until a few years ago he lived independently in Curlinghall, Largs, just 40 yards from where his father was born in 1869, and celebrated his 100th birthday in June last year.

Widowed in 1993, he is survived by his son and daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.