Sir Ian Wood remembered as 'titan of industry' at Aberdeen memorial
Michael Gove and John Swinney paid tribute to the businessman who turned a family fishing boat yard into a £5bn global engineering group.
Wood Group offices in Aberdeen, the company Sir Ian built. File photo. · Photograph: Bill Harrison (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Family, friends and business leaders gathered in Aberdeen on Thursday to remember Sir Ian Wood, the businessman and philanthropist who died in July aged 84.
The memorial service at MacRobert Hall at Robert Gordon's College heard him described as a titan of industry who never lost sight of his family.
From fishing yard to global giant
Born in Aberdeen in 1942, Sir Ian was educated at Robert Gordon's College and graduated from the University of Aberdeen with a first-class degree in psychology in 1964.
He took over the family's fishing boat repair business in 1967 and, as North Sea oil took off, built a separate engineering company to serve the industry. Wood Group went public in 2002 and at its peak was valued at more than £5 billion. It was sold to a Dubai company last year.
Knighted in 1994, he retired as chief executive in 2006 and then focused on charity through The Wood Foundation, which supports agriculture and conservation in Africa as well as projects in Scotland. He was one of Scotland's richest people, with an estimated fortune of £1.8 billion.
Tributes
Broadcaster Jackie Bird hosted the ceremony and described him as a very special human being with a laser focus, saying that for all his success, family always came first. He was married to Lady Helen Wood for 55 years and had three sons, Nic, Graham and Garreth, and seven grandchildren.
His son Garreth said his father would have been deeply touched by the service, though perhaps uncomfortable that people had taken a day off work to attend.
Former Conservative minister Michael Gove, also a former pupil of Robert Gordon's College, called Sir Ian the best of us, saying he dedicated his life to making Aberdeen more prosperous and confident.
First Minister John Swinney said in a video message that Sir Ian had helped to craft modern Scotland.
Sir Ian remained a prominent voice on energy after stepping down, questioning oil revenue assumptions during the 2014 referendum and backing the move to renewables while arguing the UK should keep drilling in the North Sea.