Tribute to Bryan Kirkwood

It was with great sadness that I heard of the death of my dear friend, Bryan Kirkwood. I first met him in the early 1980s at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Scottish headquarters in Edinburgh, where he was delivering a lecture during the early days of the College of Pharmacy Practice. It was later I discovered we had attended the same school where Bryan flourished in the classical atmosphere of the Royal High School gaining a medal for excellence in Latin, ancient Greek and mathematics.

He went on to Edinburgh University but, after a year in the Arts faculty, he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and study pharmacy. This required him to obtain the necessary scientific entry qualifications which he did within the year and entered the Royal Technical College in Glasgow qualifying in 1956. However, his studies did not end there. He later gained the Diploma in Management Studies at Strathclyde University and an Open University Arts degree.

Bryan’s pharmaceutical career started with Cockburns, a private pharmacy chain in the west of Scotland, before moving into Co-operative Pharmacy finishing as northern regional manager for National Co-operatve Chemists. Bryan was a natural man manager earning the respect and loyalty of his staff.

He used his experience for the benefit of the profession by his membership of various committees and the Council of the Scottish department of the Society. He was a member of the Statutory Committee for 20 years, and was awarded the Fellowship of the Society and the OBE for his services to pharmacy.

Bryan was a frequent visitor to our home and my fondest memories are the glorious evenings of wit and merriment reflecting on the absurdities of school and working life — evenings which carried on to the wee small hours often ending with Bryan exclaiming: “Is that the time already!”.

I extend my sympathies to Bryan’s daughters Lilian, Melanie and Naomi and their families and share with them their sense of loss.

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Citation
The Pharmaceutical Journal, PJ, May, Vol 298, No 7901;298(7901)::DOI:10.1211/PJ.2017.20202767

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