James Robert Gilbert, a north-east farmer, hotel director and former rubber plantation director, has died aged 94.
The greater part of his career was spent in Malaysia where he was estates director of a 250,000 acre plantation.
James, known, as Jim, returned to Scotland after 40 years abroad to be closer to his sons, Martin, co-founder of Aberdeen Asset Management, and Douglas, an accountant who went on to own Maryculter House Hotel.
Perthshire
Jim and his wife Win settled in Blairgowrie, where he played Rosemount Golf Course, before the couple returned to live in Aberdeen.
He was the fourth child of farmer Alexander Nicol Gilbert and wife Charlotte and was born at Dorsell Cottages by Alford, September 9, 1927.
He spent his early years at Mains of Tulloch where his father farmed.
Jim attended nearby Gallowhill School and on leaving school at 14, his initial horizons were limited to his job on the farm.
Aviation
Enrolling in the Air Training Corps (ATC) as a route to helping achieve his aim of joining the Royal Air Force, he farmed by day and studied by night.
Foiled in his RAF hopes due to the end of the Second World War, Jim continued to try to join up in the forces.
He was eventually called for army training where his experience with agricultural machinery led him to a role in the 1st Airborne Squadron (Royal Engineers).
Middle East
A two-year tour of duty took him to Palestine serving in the Paras before returning to the farm at Mains of Tulloch to work with his father.
However, he was restless and explored the opportunities taken by some of his peers in Aberdeenshire to go overseas to the rubber and tea plantations and, at the age of 23, he embarked on the six-week long journey on P&O’s Canton to Malaysia where he was employed as an assistant manager on a rubber plantation.
Malaysia, with its ideal climate, had been developed with species of tropical trees by British plantation owners at the end of the 19th century with a view to producing rubber.
Exports
This rubber had proved to be a strategically essential product during the war and, in the 1950s, it continued to be a significant export, with Malaysia producing half of the world’s rubber at one time.
He had met Win before he left Aberdeen and persuaded her to join him on the plantation. Win, accompanied by a friend, travelled to Penang where Jim, 26, and Win, 24, married on May 28 1953.
Jim was to spend the next three decades managing firstly, 2,000 acres then the 40,000 acre Carey Island Plantation.
Director
Over the years his territory expanded until he was appointed as the visiting agent and then estates director for Harrisons & Crossfield in charge of the entire 250,000 acres.
Jim and Win had two boys, Martin and Douglas, who were their pride and joy. They recognised the importance of the Scottish education system and were keen for both boys to be educated back home and, from the age of nine, they became boarders at Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen.
Living on the remote estate on Carey Island, Jim decided to learn to play golf. The golf course, however, needed to be upgraded so Jim set about redesigning it and overseeing the project.
Sport
Jim was a passionate golfer and taught both boys at an early age, playing together on the plantation.
When the family moved to Kuala Lumpur in 1965, he investigated the golf courses there before deciding to live beside the Royal Selangor Club which had two magnificent courses and a swimming pool.
Golf was also a life-long interest, for son Douglas, who graduated from the University of Aberdeen, qualified as an accountant, working first in banking before starting his own business.
Martin also graduated from Aberdeen University with a degree in accountancy and law, going on to co-found Aberdeen Asset Management.
Influence
Martin credits his love of Asia as the key influence in the decisions to take the firm into the Far East. Martin, also a keen golfer, is chairman of Scottish Golf and a non-executive director of the European Tour.
The passion for golf, begun on the plantation did not just run through the Gilbert men, as Win, who passed away in 2019 weeks before her 90th birthday, was a long-term member at Deeside Golf Club, playing well into her 80s.
Jim left Malaysia in 1985, where he had risen to the position of director of estates but Jim and Win’s life overseas was not over, as Jim took up the position of managing director of Harrisons & Crossfield, in Papua New Guinea.
Golf
After 40 years living overseas, Jim and Win moved back to Scotland. Rosemount Golf Course was a favourite of Jim’s so, on retirement, they moved to Blairgowrie before coming back to Aberdeen to be closer to their boys.
He joined Deeside Golf Club as a keen competitor, eventually becoming president of the club. Jim’s interest in golf never waned even in later years and he was a keen follower of tournaments on television and a subscriber to golf magazines which he read avidly.
In Aberdeen, Jim continued his business life, in particular the family farms in the Mearns.
Hospitality
He was a director of son Douglas’s firm and of the family hotel business, Maryculter House which the family still owns.
Despite spending more of his life living in Scotland than in Malaysia, his abiding love of the country and the region remained strong.
He took a deep interest in all affairs of the Far East and continued to read all forms of material on the place he had loved living and where he and Win raised their sons.
James Robert Gilbert is survived by his son Martin, his four grandchildren Alan, Jamie, Mhairi, and Kirstin; and two great-grandchildren, Sophie and Rachel.