Former Carnoustie businessman and builder Grant Ramsay has died peacefully at Stracathro Hospital. He was 79.
Mr Ramsay was born in Hamilton on May 25 1936 to Bennie and Alec Ramsay, both of Carnoustie, followed by his brother Colin three years later.
Returning to Carnoustie at 12, Mr Ramsay attended Arbroath High School and left school at 15 to become a joiner’s apprentice with Robert Reid and Son.
He met Mary, a nursing sister at PRI, at a dance in Perth at the Salutation Hotel and married in 1959 at the city’s Trinity Church.
Mr Ramsay did national service between 1958 and 1960 in the Airfield Construction Branch at RAF Wellesbourne Mountford, achieving the rank of corporal technician.
He gained a night-school diploma in building from Dundee College of Technology and built his first house in Carnoustie for his family.
The Terrace Road house featured in the Modern Homes section of The Courier in 1966, a feat he repeated with his second house in Guthrie Street in 1974.
His first job was as site agent for W Pert of Montrose and completed several contracts including the “cut corner” design for the stand extension at Tannadice Park, the Portcullis bar in Arbroath, and a radar station on Colafirth Hill in Shetland.
Mr Ramsay became a contracts director with Dundee firm Albert Thain, whose eponymous head he regarded as his mentor.
He formed Arnott Homes Ltd in 1969, now Arnott Contracts Ltd, based at “Julian’s Yard” in Queen Street.
His first project was a four-house scheme at Balmachie Gardens, the first to be built in the town for around 20 years, followed by projects including Braehead Drive, Ravensby Park Gardens and Corbie Drive in town, and Thornton Gardens in Arbroath.
Other projects included Carnoustie Library, sheltered housing at Bonella Street, and the Craw’s Nest Bar, and jobs for major manufacturers such as Gidding Lewis and Fraser in Arbroath and Rolls Royce in Sunderland.
Mr Ramsay enjoyed travel and was also chairman of the Scouting Group, member of both Dundee and Carnoustie Round Tables, Panmure Golf Club and Carnoustie Rotary Club.
He is survived by his wife Mary, his three children, seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.