Colin Mackay CBE FRCS

UHI are saddened to learn of the death of Colin Mackay CBE FRCS.

With family connections in Argyll and Wester Ross, Colin played a critically important role in creating the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) as Chair of the Board for the UHI Millennium Institute Board of Governors from 2001 until 2009, a period which saw both UHI becoming a higher education institution and the securing of degree awarding powers.

Colin played a pivotal role in creating the foundation for university title in 2011, and it is entirely fitting that his contribution was recognised in 2012 when he was awarded an honorary fellowship, along with former Principal, Professor Bob Cormack. As a person, Colin had a calming presence and a meticulous eye for detail, both of which were extremely useful qualities during his time as Chair of the Board.

Colin’s legacy lives on today and is apparent in the life and work of the institution and its place amongst other universities in Scotland and as an anchor institution within the Highlands and Islands, Perthshire and Moray.

More widely, Colin had a distinguished career in surgery. Educated at Hillhead High School in Glasgow and the University of Glasgow, his surgical training was entirely in the West of Scotland, apart from a year in Boston where he held a Medical Research Council Travelling Fellowship. Following his return to Glasgow, he spent 26 years as a consultant surgeon at the Western Infirmary and Gartnavel General Hospital.

In addition to clinical work, Mr MacKay was involved in undergraduate teaching, research and postgraduate medical education. He also served on many committees and public bodies, among them, the Greater Glasgow Health Board and the General Medical Council. Colin retired from clinical practice in 1996 when he was elected President of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. He was awarded the CBE in 2000 for services to medicine.