Obituary: Jim Ford, veterinary surgeon

Jim Ford was a deeply passionate vet who first nurtured his love of animals in his birthplace of Nigeria.

The son of Bill and Barbara Ford, he spent his early years in Jos, where his father was acting police commissioner, until being sent off to boarding school in England at the age of seven.

Returning home for the holidays during his schooling, his secondary education was completed at The King's School, Canterbury before going up to Edinburgh in 1968 to study veterinary medicine at the Dick Vet School.

After graduating in 1974 he headed back south and joined two practices in Folkestone, Dexter & Barnes and W G Shields, before moving briefly to a mixed practice in Hereford. After a class reunion in 1976 he returned to Scotland to set up a partnership, in Powdermill Brae, Gorebridge, with a former fellow student at the Dick Vet, Sue Arthur. During his time at Arthur & Ford he also did locum work in Lincoln.

Although they worked well together, he wanted to start his own practice and achieved his ambition in January 1979 when he bought the Dundas Veterinary Group in Edinburgh's Dundas Street.

When he took over there it only provided work for three or four staff but he expanded the business and upgraded the facilities, creating an approved training centre for registered animal nursing auxiliaries, adding cat boarding kennels and his own practice laboratory.

Over the years he grew the practice until it consisted of branch surgeries in Edinburgh's Granton Road and Lochend Road South, along with a further surgery at Dalmeny Station, South Queensferry, employing a total of three vets and eight veterinary nurses.

He displayed great commitment and organisational skills servicing clients across four premises but, after selling up in 1985, his career took a completely different change of direction.

In October 1982 he had helped found Albacomm Communication Hire Ltd in Livingstone, a company which hired, sold and serviced radios and communication equipment, and held posts as its financial director and company secretary.

When he sold the Dundas Street practice he had no firm plans to become involved in Albacomm full-time. However during the summer of 1985 the company expanded very rapidly and his management and financial experience proved very useful. He went on to gain an Open University qualification in accounting and finance.

Yet his love of veterinary medicine had not diminished and he returned to the profession two years later as official veterinary surgeon to West Lothian District Council, supervising the busy abattoir at Bathgate.Although his time at the abattoir was intensely interesting, he felt a sense of loss at not being able to use his professional qualifications to their full potential and after four years there decided once more to go into business for himself.

He set up his own practice again in 1989 after acquiring planning permission to transform former public toilets in Broxburn that had been earmarked for demolition. The Greendykes Road premises were well suited to his purpose and he converted the property to create Albyn Veterinary Centre.

In 2005 he sold the Albyn business and took a three-month sabbatical before heading to Stirling, where he bought the Riverside Veterinary Clinic that autumn. He used his business skills to expand it from a branch surgery into a fully functioning clinic open five-and-a-half days a week and ran the practice for five years, until illness intervened.

Professionally, he enjoyed popularity and respect, prompting many of his clients to follow him from practice to practice, happy to make the journey to Stirling for a consultation. Never a 9-5 vet, he often spent his evenings telephoning clients to see how their pets were doing after a visit to the surgery. He had time for everyone and treated all his clients equally, whether it was a granny with her moggie or a lord's prized pedigree pet.

Believed to be among the first to offer pet cremations, he routinely sent condolence cards to clients who had lost their beloved animal companions.

He was also a dedicated fundraiser, and the events he organised include a sponsored shave in aid of Edinburgh Royal Hospital for Sick Children and fun days to support the National Canine Defence League, now the Dogs Trust.

At one time his duties had included acting as official vet for Lothian and Borders Police dog section.

He had a colourful and eventful personal life too. He was married twice and a father of two. He and his second wife enjoyed many working holidays together when he attended international conferences in the USA, Ireland and Spain, amongst others.

Away from work and family, he loved sport, particularly rugby and rowing, having been awarded a half blue at Edinburgh University in 1972, winning every cup he entered, including the Head of the Tyne and both the eights and coxed fours in Aberdeen. He also enjoyed reading, gardening and his own pets, two Siamese cats and a Jack Russell. A big man, both in physical stature and in personality, though occasionally exasperating he engaged easily with people from all walks of life and was always the man people wanted to sit beside.

He was also, mourners heard, a man who exemplified life, love, laughter and an irrepressible belief in seeing the best in everything.

He is survived by his wife Margaret, children Jonathan and Caroline and his sister Hazel.