Friends and colleagues,

Our former colleague, Richard Brown, passed away recently. He had been ill with Mesothelioma for the past 18 months. As a result, the Clydeside Asbestos Action Group was a charity close to Richard's heart.

Many of you will have known and worked with Richard over the years. His loss will be particularly felt by people in our Dingwall office and throughout our flooding and hydrology teams, but will go much further than that, both inside and outside SEPA as Richard was widely known and admired. It strikes me that Richard leaves two major legacies from his career.

First, Richard was someone who had time for every single person he met. “Lovely”, “kind”, “gentle”, “thoughtful” and “considerate” are among the most common words I have heard people use to describe Richard over the years. Indeed, at a retirement farewell for Richard at Strathpeffer, I said that it was a delight to give a farewell speech for someone who everyone agrees is a 100% decent and lovely human being. To have lived a life where this can be said is to have lived life in a special way.

Second, Richard was a driving force of Scotland’s work on hydrology and flooding for his entire career. He saw this work as a crucial to Scotland’s welfare and took considerable professional care in making sure that it was done well. In doing this work, he always saw himself as part of a team of people inside and outside SEPA who were stewards for this body of work and the benefits it brings to Scotland. Richard was always generous with his time and his knowledge and many people have benefited from his guidance and advice over the years.

Outside work, Richard had the same positive impact on those he came into contact with. Family, community and his strongly held faith were at Richard’s core and meant that he was the same positive presence in his personal life as we experienced in his professional life. We offer our sincere condolences and our thoughts to his wife Fiona, his whole family, his many friends and all those in the community which was so important to him. He will be much missed by many people.