Tributes paid to businessman and author

Tributes have been paid to local businessman, John D. M. Robertson CBE, who passed away in Inverness on Monday.

Among his business interests, Mr Robertson, formerly of Shorelands, George Street, Kirkwall, was chairman of the Robertson Group of Companies, which has its head office on Kirkwall’s Shore Street; director of Falkland Islands company Stanley Services Ltd;  and director of Orkney Media Group.

John Robertson was at the forefront of public life in Orkney for many years as chairman of Orkney Health Board and the Children’s Panel.  He was an Honorary Sheriff, a founder member of Orkney Heritage Society, and served as Honorary Vice Consul for Denmark and Honorary Consul for the Federal Republic of Germany.  He was awarded a CBE in 1993.

The author of Uppies and Doonies and The Kirkwall Ba’: Between the Water and the Wall, Mr Robertston was a staunch supporter of the Ba’, winning the trophy in 1966. His other literary ventures included two volumes of  An Orkney Anthology: Selected Works of Ernest Walker Marwick and The Press Gang in Orkney and Shetland.

In April 1991, he and Mrs Robertson relocated to Spinningdale in Sutherland, returning regularly to Orkney.

Mr Robertson is survived by his wife Norette, and four children, Susan, John, Fiona and Sinclair.