Brian Gibson
Brian Rigby
Businessman and charity supporter;

Born: July 5, 1941; Died: April 18, 2012.

Brian Gibson, who has died suddenly aged 70 in Spain, was a businessman and one of the west end of Glasgow's most colourful characters. A kenspeckle figure, he was often seen walking or cycling with his three black labradors in Anniesland, Hyndland, Hillhead and Kelvingrove. "Grandmother, mother and daughter!" he could be heard proudly boasting to anyone who stopped to chat to him or pat the dogs.

He was born in his beloved Helensburgh where he and his older brother Kenneth lived with their parents, Renfrew, a manufacturer's agent, and Marion, a teacher and a daughter of the manse, until after their deaths, when he moved to a flat in Falkland Street in the west end, the first of his many property purchases.

However, he never forgot his birthplace, the friends he had made there or his relatives still living there. It is a tribute to the special place in his heart he reserved for all things Helensburgh that he held his 65th-birthday celebration there and invited some of his Hermitage primary school friends to it.

He received his secondary education at Glasgow Academy, revelling in all things the school offered him – especially sports, particularly rugby, and the cadet corps. What he lacked in stellar talent he made up for in enthusiasm, industry and dependability, characteristics that helped to shape his very successful future.

He loved his time at the academy and it was no surprise, that, on leaving, he joined the Glasgow Academical Club and remained a passionate activist for it for the rest of his life.

He represented the Accies in both rugby and squash, giving up on both only when his knees, stamina and the selection processes forced him to. Being a committed club man, he redirected his energy into enhancing the social side of the club and became a driving force in ensuring its financial survival.

At the birth of the disco era he organised fundraising nights at the White Elephant Club in town before moving on to establish, and run virtually single-handedly, his pet project, Bossini's Disco, every Friday night at New Anniesland.

He was a governor of Glasgow Academy and president of The Glasgow Academical Club in 1999-2000. He will be remembered for his driving enthusiasm in encouraging so many to attend the annual Glasgow Academical Club Dinner and for the reunions and other fundraising events he organised over the years.

On leaving school in 1959, he chose a career in the insurance industry and joined the well-known insurance brokers, AR Stenhouse And Partners, as a trainee life and pensions consultant.

With his people skills and enthusiasm, he was a natural in this environment and enjoyed success at all levels there for the next 36 years, finally taking early retirement in 1995, having achieved the position of deputy chairman of the Alexander Consulting Group.

However, he was not finished with the business world and set about forming the successful firm of Gibson Pension & Investments with which he achieved two of his determined ambitions: to create a family business, which he did, with his wife, Seonaidgh, his daughter, Pippa, and his son, Kerr, all working with him; and to keep working for his clients until he "died with his boots on", which, sadly, he achieved all too early.

Brian Gibson was a very charitable man, in spirit, in encouragement to others and with financial support to various organisations, individuals and charities.

His lifelong interest in rugby led him to offer his company as main sponsor to the Glasgow Accies Rugby Club, West of Scotland FC and the Glasgow Hawks RFC.

With his avid interest in the preservation of historic buildings, he was a founder member of the New Glasgow Society and a dedicated supporter of the Yorkhill Children's Foundation and the Preshal Trust.

Latterly, his greatest affiliation was to the Wooden Spoon Society, a rugby charity supporting children's causes nationally. He wore its bright colours with pride and would happily explain their origin to anyone showing any curiosity. Through his firm, he has been the principal sponsor of the Spoon's annual Glasgow dinner for the past 10 years. In a show of the esteem he was held in, the large gathering at the recent memorial service donated more than £3000 to the Wooden Spoon Society by way of a retiral collection.

It was said of him that, although he passionately loved his family, his business and the Glasgow Academical Club, he had two overarching loves – his love of life and his love of people.

The Gibsons would have celebrated their 40th anniversary in July. Seonaidgh, their children, Zoe, Pippa, Rory and Kerr, and their six grandchildren will miss him sorely, as will his many, many friends.

This article was posted on 4-Jun-2012, 06:43 by Hugh Barrow.