Robin Steel WaddellFormer Chairman of Glasgow Stock Exchange;
Born August 3, 1931;
Died April 18, 2007.

Robin was the eldest of Herbert and Bee Waddell's three sons. Born in Glasgow, he started school at Glasgow Academy, but, following the outbreak of war and the family's evacuation to his maternal grandmother's home, he studied at St Mary's School in Melrose and at Fettes College, Edinburgh.

After National Service as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in Egypt, he went to Cambridge, where he graduated in law.

He then qualified as a chartered accountant at Thomson McLintock and gained experience in a number of financial institutions, including Baillie Gifford, and at stockbroking firms in London and Glasgow.

In 1960, he joined Speirs and Jeffrey. His career with the firm lasted 35 years and he was senior partner and chairman for nine years of what was a truly democratic partnership. The partners all worked in the same room, which produced a high level of noise, but allowed the rapid exchange of information and opinions. Everybody needs friends who tell you not to be an idiot on occasion, and that room was full of such friends.

Forty years ago there were more than 60 independently run advisory stockbroking firms in Scotland. Of these, just Speirs and Jeffrey remains. Robin played a leading part in its survival.

He was chairman of the Scottish Stock Exchange from 1976 to 1978. Remarkably, Robin and his brother, Alan, had known every partner in Speirs and Jeffrey's 101-year history.

Throughout his life, sport was a major interest. At school he was a useful rugby player, a good hockey player and excelled at basketball. In his second year at Cambridge, he abandoned rugby to concentrate on golf.

In his third year he won a golf Blue against Oxford, achieving what every sportsman and woman dreams of: he produced the best performance of his life on the day it mattered most and won his match against all expectations.

At Glasgow Golf Club he was three times part of a victorious partnership in the Stewart Cup and he won the Royal Exchange Vase in successive years. In winter, he returned to rugby, playing back row or second row for Glasgow Academicals, before taking up refereeing, which he did, strictly, until the dog ate his rugby boots. After that he retired.

In later life, golf remained a major interest and he was a member of the finance committee of the R&A, golf's world rules and development body and organiser of the Open Championship, chairman of the St Andrews Links Trust and a trustee of the R T Jones Jr Memorial Trust. He also served a term as chairman of the management committee of Prestwick Golf Club and was for some years a governor of St. Leonard's.

Most obituaries mention family as an afterthought. In Robin's case, family came first. His marriage to Eileen was joyful and full of humour and pride in their girls and, in due course, in their gang of sons-in-law and grandchildren.

Robin was a larger-than-life figure. His approach was intuitive rather than intellectual, determined and competitive, cheerful and humorous. He had a hearty laugh and loved to make others laugh. He lived a full life well.
Alan A W Waddell

This article was posted on 7-May-2007, 21:04 by Hugh Barrow.