Obituary: Andrew McMenigall, senior investment manager and triathlete

Andrew McMenigall was a man with generosity at his core. He gave freely of his time, expertise and experience, whether it was in a personal capacity, professionally among his colleagues or encouraging his fellow athletes.

When he died in a road accident he was at the start of a charity cycle run from Land’s End to John O’Groats. The initiative was to raise funds for a trust in memory of a young colleague who died of cancer. It was also to support a local charity helping youngsters with cancer and their families as one of his own daughters had recovered from a brain tumour. It was a typical of him, and a reflection of his selflessness and humanity, that he was doing something for the benefit of others.

Andrew was born in Edinburgh and educated at the capital’s Stewart’s Melville College where, as an army cadet, he aspired to join the regular army. He realised his ambition when, after leaving school in 1983, he went to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and graduated as an officer two years later.

He then joined the Royal Highland Fusiliers as a second lieutenant, on a three-year commission, with postings that included a stint in Berlin – where he guarded Adolf Hitler’s deputy fuhrer Rudolph Hess at Spandau Prison – as well as time in Kenya and a trip to take bagpipes to Japan.

Just before going into the armed forces he had spent a short time as an office boy/trainee at the Edinburgh fund management group Ivory and Sime where he returned, in 1988, as an investment administrator. After he pestered them to promote him to trainee fund manager, they duly did so and he remained with the organisation until 1994.

There then followed a brief spell as finance director in his own business, Prospect Communications, an online CV and job service, before it was wound up and he moved to Scottish Mutual. He was an investment manager in the North American team until returning to Ivory and Sime as a senior investment manager.

In 1997 he joined Edinburgh Fund Managers, in a similar post, working in their United States department, and completed a part-time MBA at Edinburgh University, graduating in 2001. He had spent the past ten years at Aberdeen Asset Management where he was a senior investment manager in the global equity team.

There he was a dedicated and popular member of the senior team. One of his colleagues had been Kirsten Scott, a former graduate trainee who had worked a placement in Edinburgh and become a global marketing executive. She lost her battle with cancer in 2011, aged 25. When Andrew died, along with a colleague Toby Wallace, they had just set off on the 960-mile, seven-day journey from Land’s End, planning to raise £10,000 for the trust set up in her name. It aims to provide grants for young people under 26, encouraging them to fulfil their ambitions, enhance their personal development and make a positive contribution.

McMenigall was someone for whom positive contributions were a way of life. He was a triathlete, coach and vice-president of Edinburgh Triathletes; a former rugby player with Stewart’s Melville FP Rugby Club and then a referee, also acting as team secretary and referees’ secretary; involved with Edinburgh High Constables, Edinburgh Merchant Company and he mentored sixth formers at St Thomas of Aquin’s High School as part of a Youth Enterprise Programme. At Edinburgh Triathletes he was, said president Gavin Calder, “a giant of the club”, a true club man and all-round good guy, who gave of his time freely to bring on triathletes of every standard. He was both competitor and coach, a regular swim coach who willingly turned up poolside at 6am and was happy to sacrifice his own training time to help others.

He would go out of his way to ensure the wellbeing of fellow athletes even if, on one occasion, it meant cycling 150 miles – 75 miles there to find a lost cyclist and 75 miles accompanying them back again safely on the return journey.

His “never give up” mentality was illustrated a few years ago during a half ironman race – a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride and half marathon. Nearing the end of the bike run, his chain snapped. Undefeated, he simply carried the bike on his back to complete the course.

He is survived by wife Anne whom he married in 1993, daughters Jennifer and Lucy, parents Moyra and Martin, sister Clare and brother David.