Forfar has been saddened by the sudden death of businessman Alan White, who owned a successful town dairy for more than 30 years and was a prominent figure in many aspects of local life.
Born in Edinburgh, Mr White moved to Coupar Angus as a two-year-old and after schooling in the local junior secondary and Perth High went on to the then Dundee Technical College where he gained an engineering degree, leading to a job in Edinburgh with Ferranti.
He married his wife, Mary, in 1966 and the couple set up home in Dunfermline. They have two children, Adrian and Judith, and three grandchildren.
At weekends and during holidays, Mr White helped a Newtyle milkman with his business and that led, in 1972, to a career change when he bought the former Farquharson dairy business in Forfar’s Teuchat Croft.
It became White’s Dairy and expanded deliveries to areas including Kirriemuir and Broughty Ferry, before the family sold the business in 2004.
He had continued to work, assisting son Adrian in his M&S Richardsons newsagent business on Forfar West High Street, but Mr White, who was 75, was also able to devote additional time to his many and varied interests and the local organisations he was involved with over many years.
He was a dedicated Forfar Rotarian and part of the club’s successful curling team which won the organisation’s Scottish championship Ram’s Head trophy on a number of occasions, as well as a gold medal in the Rotary World championships in Kinross in 1990, followed two years’ later by silver at Utica in the United States.
Mr White’s other Rotary involvement included driving Santa’s sleigh on its annual festive fundraising collection in Forfar and the surrounding area, and he was also a long-time volunteer with the Forfarian community bus trust, of which he was one of the original drivers.
A member of Forfar and Fothringham Curling Clubs, as well as Forfar Golf Club, he was also an enthusiastic member of Strathmore Vintage Vehicle Club, organisers of the annual Scottish Transport Extravaganza at Glamis Castle.