Obituary: Robert Campbell Barr, engineer and health camapaigner

Campbell was born in Gourock on 28 May, 1943. After completing his schooling at Gourock Eastern, Gourock High and Greenock High, he advanced on to Rolls Royce-sponsored further education through Strathclyde University, where he obtained a degree in mechanical engineering.

Campbell joined Rolls Royce at its Hillington Factory, in Glasgow, progressing through the various disciplines and ending up as the facilities manager.

He then moved south of the Border, initially to Bristol then to Derby prior to a stint in Canada. After that he returned to Scotland as managing director at Peebles Electric (Edinburgh), part of the Rolls Royce Industrial Group Manufacturing Division. By the time he retired he had served Rolls Royce for 35 years.

When Campbell visited his doctor with upper body pain, roughly ten years ago, he thought it was nothing more than a frozen shoulder, but the real cause of the pain turned out to be Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS).

As the discomfort progressed through his body, his astute GP sent him for physiotherapy at St John’s Hospital in Livingston, and it was there he was eventually diagnosed.

He suffered for many years with the AS, a degenerative disease, which meant early retirement from his position. Following his retirement, from industry, Campbell spent a great deal of his time his time raising awareness of AS through his work, initially as secretary and latterly as chairman of the Edinburgh branch of the National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society (NASS).

He provided information and support for members, both within the branch and across the broader NASS organisation. As well as representing the organisation at NASS stands at rheumatology conferences, he also participated in an international project.

In August 2008 Campbell joined nine other AS patients in Dusseldorf, in Germany, to assist with a new project to develop a new tool to measure “quality of life in Ankylosing Spondylitis”. It entailed agreeing on the content and the wording of questions to be used.

All of the discussions took place in English even though the participants were from countries including Canada, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Turkey and USA as well as the UK representatives.

More recently he represented NASS, two or three time a year, at the Meetings of the Cross Party Group on Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Conditions, chaired by Helen Eadie MP and held in the Scottish Parliament.

Campbell was universally respected and liked.

In summary he gave up much time, and applied his best effort to ensure that AS sufferer’s problems were both appreciated by the public and treated such that they received the best care available; and it was appreciated by all!

Campbell is survived by his widow Islay, his son Steven and his grandchildren Robert and Elizabeth.

Iain G Macdonald