Colin MacKay was a consultant surgeon at the Western Infirmary and Gartnavel General Hospital in Glasgow and a former president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Born to Kenneth MacKay and Margaret Blair Dawson MacKay née McLachlan in a nursing home in the Park Circus area of Glasgow on 8 November 1936, he was subsequently evacuated along with his cousins on his mother’s side to Tighnabruaich in Argyll, where he started primary school. His father was the manager of the Milngavie branch of the Bank of Scotland and home was the bank house. After returning to Glasgow, Colin was enrolled at Hillhead High School and he never grew tired of recalling for the benefit of his own children and grandchildren how, as a small boy, he travelled each day, unaccompanied, by bus from Milngavie into school in the West End of the city. In addition to high academic achievement there, he performed with enthusiasm and skill in the school cricket XI. Intent on a career in medicine, he entered the medical faculty at Glasgow in 1954 and, after picking up numerous prizes and a BSc in physiology along the way, graduated in 1961 with the Brunton medal, awarded to the graduate with the highest marks in the finals, and went to work in the Western Infirmary, eventually becoming the Hall fellow and lecturer in surgery in Sir Charles Illingworth’s academic unit. His training involved rotation through other units at the Western, together with a period at one of the district hospitals, in Colin’s case the Royal Alexandra Infirmary in Paisley. In 1964 Illingworth was succeeded in the regius chair by Andrew ‘Drew’ Kay and, with his support and encouragement, Colin, by now married with two young children, was awarded a prestigious Medical Research Council travelling fellowship to Boston University, where he worked on gallstone disease and bile salt metabolism – a research subject which he developed further on his return to the Western 12 months later. He was appointed as a senior lecturer in 1970 and continued to work closely with Kay until 1982, when he was appointed as a consultant surgeon at Gartnavel General Hospital, where he was acknowledged as a friendly and wise mentor to young surgeons in training, many of whom went on to become successful surgeons themselves. He remained there until his retirement in 1996. Both Illingworth and Kay had successfully combined their clinical and research activities with active involvement and subsequent presidency of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, which has played an important role in the development and oversight of postgraduate medical and surgical training since its foundation in 1599. Colin MacKay was elected to the college council in 1972 and became an honorary treasurer four years later, a post he held for 10 years – a period during which the college’s finances were always in an extremely healthy state. As a combined college of physicians and surgeons, the college had automatic representation on an extremely wide and ever-expanding range of medical bodies. The president needed support to fulfil all these commitments, and the posts of vice president (medical and surgical) were created. Colin was elected as the first surgical vice president in 1992 to support the then president, Donald Campbell. As a result of this increasing involvement in intercollegiate activity, his many abilities and interpersonal skills came to the attention of office bearers from the three other surgical royal colleges in the British Isles – Edinburgh, England and Ireland. Together they had responsibility for managing and supervising surgical training and examinations across the UK and Ireland through the Joint Committee for Higher Surgical Training (JCHST), which met four times a year and rotated its meetings through each college with the host-president taking the chair. It was recognised that continuity of JCHST work would be better ensured by the appointment of a permanent chairman for a four-year period and Colin MacKay was immediately recognised as the obvious choice for this post, being nominated by the president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He combined these activities with membership of the Greater Glasgow Health Board and the General Medical Council, as well as being an examiner for numerous home and overseas universities and surgical colleges. In 1996, on his election as visitor (president elect) of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, he retired from clinical practice and served as college president for three years from 1997. This covered the year when the college celebrated the 400th anniversary of the granting of its royal charter by James VIth in 1599. Inevitably it was an extremely busy year involving many special events, the highlights being a visit to the college by Her Majesty the Queen accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh and a gala dinner where the principal guests were Mary McAleese, the president of Ireland, and Scotland’s new first minister, Donald Dewar. These memorable occasions and many others were hosted with great aplomb, dignity and good humour by Colin MacKay supported as ever by his wife Helen. He was awarded the CBE for services to medicine after stepping down as president in 2000. The following year he was invited to chair the board of governors of the University of the Highlands and Islands Millennium Institute – the body charged with the task of assimilating 15 colleges and higher education facilities throughout the north of Scotland and the Western Isles into a single institution – the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI). He had family connections with the highlands. His father’s family hailed from Shieldaig in Wester Ross. His paternal grandfather had come down to the west of Scotland to take up the position of head gardener at the home of the Dowager Duchess of Hamilton – the White House – in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. At the conclusion of a very successful eight years as chairman, full university title was granted to UHI and its degree awarding status was recognised. He worked closely and harmoniously with two principals, Bob Cormack and James Fraser. Colin’s pivotal role in guiding the institution to full university status was recognised in a statement by UHI following his death and, in a message of condolence to the family, James Fraser made special mention of Colin’s ability to get the best out of people, his compassion, his eye for detail and his great sense of humour, all of which ensured the success of the UHI project. It was therefore very appropriate that he was one of the first recipients of an honorary fellowship awarded by the new university. All that Colin MacKay did in his highly productive life was underpinned by his deep Christian faith and the strength and stability of his family life. He was an elder in the Free Church for more than 50 years, firstly in Partick Highland, then the City Free Church and finally in Crow Road Free Church. He was a close friend of Donald MacLeod, who had been his pastor at Partick Highland and latterly greatly valued the ministry and regular visits from the Rev Colin Dow. Prayer and daily reading of his Bible were the mainstays of his life and all that he achieved. The other great source both of support and enjoyment was his family, particularly his wife Helen (née Miskimmin), to whom he was married for 57 years. She had her own career as a specialist in care of the elderly. She beautifully complemented all that Colin did and was a wonderful hostess both at official functions and in their home in Bearsden, where their hospitality was legendary both for friends and the many visitors from overseas arriving in Glasgow to visit his hospital, the college or their church. Colin and Helen enjoyed travelling, particularly in North America, where they had visited every state, but no matter where they were they always ensured their presence in church each Sunday. He and Helen also enjoyed being part of the Moynihan Travelling Surgical Club, which met twice a year, once in the UK and once abroad. His other great delight was his family – one son, also Colin, and two daughters, Elspeth and Helen. Their spouses Gill, Donald and Donald were warmly welcomed into the family circle, which expanded further with the arrival of six grandchildren who all greatly appreciated the unconditional love and support shown to them by their grandparents. Elspeth is now an administrator for the Langham Partnership, an international Christian Charity, Helen junior became a consultant in palliative care and Colin junior is a consultant surgeon. Colin MacKay died on 17 December 2023 at the age of 87. His passing has deprived many areas of Scottish life of a much valued and highly regarded servant. He leaves a substantial legacy – firstly a group of surgeons still in clinical practice trained and encouraged by him and, secondly, the greater availability of higher education in the north of Scotland through the continuing growth of the University of the Highlands and Islands.