Aberdeen-born Dr Hugh Hepburn dedicated his life to helping the ill and vulnerable around him.
He himself was born into poverty, in 1940, as the second eldest of eight Granite City children.
And that led Mr Hepburn to drop out of school aged 15 to take up jobs to support his family.
He swiftly displayed an entrepreneurial streak as the future doctor would wheel a barrow filled with fruit and veg around the city to sell door-to-door.
At the age of 19, he joined the Gordon Highlanders and was stationed to Germany, where his love of music and skills with the bagpipes led him to join the regiment’s pipe band.
He’d been winning awards for piping from the age of 11 and that love of music continued throughout his entire life, as he was playing into his twilight years with Portlethen and District pipe band.
After leaving the military, aged 22, he set about gaining the qualifications needed to become a medical doctor.
He attended night school and gained a place at Aberdeen University’s medical school, graduating in 1974 before working in a range of settings including A&E in Aberdeen and in Falkirk, Perth and Gibraltar.
And he also practised as a GP in Forfar before setting up Aberdeen Medical Services in 1990.
He did so with colleague Iain MacAskill and eldest son Mark, who described his father as “a one off” whose own father’s skills as a flyweight boxer taught him to ‘never give up’.
He said: “He was never happier than when he was actually helping someone get better.
“I remember him teaching us that life will knock you down, but you have to get up again – and when you do, you have to fight differently.”
Pairing his love of boxing and medicine, until a year ago Dr Hepburn served as a medical professional at amateur bouts across Scotland.
The Aberdeen Assassin, Lee McAllister, and all those who came through his boxing gym were among those he looked after.
Dr Hepburn died on May 8 in Aberdeen’s Royal Infirmary, after a short battle with Myeloma, a form of blood cancer.
He is survived by his three children, Mark, Fiona and Stuart and his wife Betty.
