It was a year in which the world lost a genius, a president and a queen (of soul).
Physicist Stephen Hawking defied motor neurone disease to become one of the foremost minds of his generation.
It’s a sign of his status that his ashes are interred in Westminster Abbey with Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.
Politics lost the 41st US President George HW Bush, his wife Barbara and fellow Republican elder statesmen John McCain.
Closer to home, the death of Perth and Kinross Council leader Ian Campbell drew cross-party tributes.
The entertainment world said farewell to giants such as Smokey and the Bandit star Burt Reynolds and the queen of soul Aretha Franklin, as well as heroes of British light entertainment Sir Ken Dodd, Bullseye host Jim Bowen, Supermarket Sweep’s Dale Winton and Chuckle Brother Barry Elliot.
Sporting deaths included Sir Roger Bannister, the first athlete to run a four-minute mile, and Dundee FC legend Alan Gilzean – one of the greatest footballers Scotland has ever produced.
Former jockey Sam Morshead transferred his skills in the saddle to the business arena, as the driving force behind Perth Racecourse, while Dundee car dealer Bob Barnett built the motor group that bore his name.
And while he might not have seen his name in lights, Reg Mulheron of Tayport did become The Courier’s man of letters, as a much-valued and sadly-missed contributor to the Craigie column for more than six decades.
