Obituary: Boyd Brodie; banker and community figure devoted to helping others achieve their goals

Born: 5 October, 1934 in Hamilton, Lanarkshire. Died: 4 June, 2012, in Spain, aged 77.

FOR most of his career Boyd Brodie was a successful banker, climbing the ladder from teller to regional manager. But his working days began with a job that combined paid employment with his lifelong hobby as a railway enthusiast.

As one of the select few to win a place at the then elite Hamilton Academy – he sat the entrance exam in his final year at the town’s Beckford Street School – he had been expected to go to university.

But young Brodie, the son of an engine driver and railway foreman, was adamant he wanted into work. His first job was in the timetables office of British Rail in Glasgow.

It fuelled his passion for trains, a love that was to last. However, after a few months, he joined the National Commercial Bank of Scotland, later to become the Royal Bank of Scotland, and his career took an altogether different track.

Brodie, whose RAF national service included being part of the guard for the Queen’s coronation parade, began in banking in Hamilton. He met his future wife, Margaret, when sent on relief to the branch where she worked at Lundin Links in Fife.

Her father was manager at the National Commercial Bank in Inverkeithing and apparently checked out this potential son-in-law by asking his bank about his career prospects.

From there Brodie worked in various branches including Aberdour, where he made his home, Bernard Street in Leith and Goldenacre in Edinburgh.

His first managerial post was at Burntisland in Fife in 1973. He remained there until 1980 when he moved to Arbroath. During this period he also appeared in a film, Portrait Of The Royal Bank, and edited the RBS staff magazine.

His next appointment was establishing the first RBS branch south of the Border, in Leeds. He managed it for four years before returning north as chief manager, based in Kirkcaldy, from 1987 to 1991.

He spent his final three years at RBS as regional manager for central Scotland and south Fife, retiring in 1994. He then became a financial consultant for Kingdom Taverns, a freehold pub company.

His was always in demand outside his working life. He was a founder member of Corstorphine Round Table, past president of Livingston Rotary Club and, as president elect of Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay Rotary, had been due to be installed this month.

He was secretary of Arbroath Burns Club in the 1980s, was treasurer of Aberdour Day Care Centre and had recently volunteered with Scotland’s Care Inspectorate as a lay assessor.

A keen golfer, he was an honorary member of Aberdour Golf Club, where he played several times a week. He also bowled, and supported Hamilton Academicals.

He had also travelled extensively and enjoyed train trips and cruises. Majorca and Ischia were favourite destinations as were Scarborough and Montrose. Once, at the drop of a hat, he visited Berlin in the first few days following the fall of the Berlin wall. He died on holiday in Spain.

He is survived by his wife, Margaret, children Alison and Lesley, granddaughter Luka and his brothers John and Bill.

ALISON SHAW