Robert Laurenson started his working life lighting the fire in a Lerwick bank branch and ended it as deputy chief executive of the Clydesdale Bank.
Along the way he had spells playing for Aberdeen FC and St Johnstone and headed the Clydesdale’s operation in Dundee for many years.
Although his banking career took him to the financial centres of London and Glasgow, Robert, who has died aged 92, never forgot his Shetland roots.
He was in the Jarl squad at Up-Helly-A in 1985 and often painted landscapes of the islands.
His father, also Robert, had been one of the first drivers in Shetland where he operated the first oil truck and first refuse lorry.
Young Robert was dux of Lerwick Public High School and also an outstanding footballer on the islands, turning out for both Lerwick Rangers and the Shetland team.
His first job was at the Shetland Times where he remained for two years before joining the former North of Scotland Bank in 1948 as a junior.
He had to light the fire each day and open the door for customers.
Football was a great passion
Robert’s National Service was spent with the Gordon Highlanders before returning to the bank and being posted to Perth.
This allowed him to play football on the mainland and he made appearances with St Johnstone and Aberdeen FC and was a long-term player with Blairgowrie.
His talents had been spotted in Shetland by legendary referee Peter Carmyle who personally took him to Aberdeen. In his debut match he scored two of three goals in a 3-1 win over Peterhead.
In 1958, Robert married Margaret Patterson of Birnam and had two sons, Graeme and Kenneth.
Football was a great passion of Robert’s said Kenneth who recalled that the St Johnstone manager had to visit the bank to ask permission for his father to get a day off on a Saturday to play.
“He was poised to go on to a far greater level but it was unfortunately cut short by minor, but in that era, consequential injuries,” said Kenneth.
Robert was, in fact, an all-round sportsman. He played badminton and was a snooker champion in Dundee who once played against Ray Reardon.
In later life he was a curler, bowler and golfer.
‘He quickly endeared himself to the people of Dundee’
From the Perth branch of the Clydesdale, Robert moved to Glasgow and then on to Dundee where he was assistant manager from 1966 to 1968.
After a posting to Lombard Street in London and then the bank’s Glasgow head office, he returned to Dundee in 1972 at the age of 42 to became manager of the bank’s imposing branch in High Street.
Kenneth said: “He quickly endeared himself to the people of Dundee. He was, after all, a straight-talking Shetlander and understood the tough spirit of the people.
“As a banker and ex footballer, he struck up a great friendship with the people at Dundee United and was a regular in the directors’ box.”
After leaving Dundee, Robert returned to Clydesdale Bank’s head office where he rose to become deputy chief executive.
Outside work he was a fiddler with a passion for Shetland music and a skilled painter in oils and watercolours,
Robert was predeceased by Margaret in February this year and is survived by Graeme and Kenneth.
You can read the family’s announcement here.
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