The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Geology professor had love affair with Norway
Donald Ramsay, emeritus professor of geology of Dundee University, has died aged 89.
In 1959 he began what became a lifelong obsession, spending the next 40 summers conducting research in northern Norway. As few people spoke English in the far north then, he picked up some Norwegian.
One summer, on a visit to the inhospitable Bear Island, approximately halfway between Spitsbergen and the North Cape in the Barents Sea, Donald and his travel companions were fortunate to spend time mapping the island, which was teaming with Arctic wildlife, including an occasional polar bear coming ashore on a breakaway iceberg.
Together with a colleague, Professor Brian Sturt of Bedford, Donald spent each summer mapping great chunks of Finnmark.
They were often joined by a team of research students who were based at the Geological Survey in Bergen.
Donald and Brian questioned the maps which had been published and set out to redraw much of northern Norway, publishing many papers in the process. All they needed was a tent on their backs and they were in geological heaven.
During the Easter holidays, as a part of the students’ courses, Donald would lead them on fieldwork excursions to Girvan and other parts of Scotland and Ireland.
Donald and Brian also organised field trips in both Scotland and Norway for overseas students from as far afield as Nova Scotia and Georgia.
A proud Scot, he used to recount the adventures of a brave, hypothetical ancestor Swart donald to hapless students who were easily taken in by his stories.
Donald was very proud of the strong teaching team which he had brought together in Dundee and their graduates were recognised by industry as great all-rounders.
He especially enjoyed being around young people and wanted to be approachable and to operate an open-door policy.
On a Friday teatime he would go to the pub for a pint, where his research students could discuss geology with him.
From humble beginnings, Donald Ramsay was born in Glasgow to John and Jessie Ramsay.
He had an older brother, Jack, who graduated from Glasgow School of Art and became the youngest art editor in Fleet Street.
After an air raid on the city, Donald was evacuated to live with his grandmother at his uncle’s farm in Beauly. He attributes his excellent academic grounding to the little rural school where his six-foot tall, no-nonsense, spinster cousin was the teacher.
It was in the Highlands where he developed his lifelong love of good whisky as his medicine for all childhood ailments was his grandmother’s hot toddy.
His success at school paid off and on his return to Glasgow, Donald won a scholarship to Allan Glen’s School.
A keen Partick Thistle supporter, he headed to Firhill whenever he could.
He taught himself to play the chanter, bringing out his in-built stubborn streak when advised by his pipe major that he would never be a piper.
He intended to study geography at Glasgow University; however, after early discussions, it became clear that his interests were more suited to geology.
After he graduated, Professor George invited Donald to study for his PhD which he completed in 1957.
Donald met his future wife, Elma, at Jimmy McEwan’s Dance School in Glasgow and they married in June 1957.
He spent a year lecturing in Glasgow and had been offered a job in Canada when the post at the then Queen’s College, Dundee, arose.
Donald started as a lecturer, progressed to senior lecturer, then reader before being made a professor. He felt blessed to have a job that he regarded as a hobby.
In the 1980s, as a result of proposed cuts which depleted staff, the geology department at what was now Dundee University was closed.
Outside of work, Donald was a keen curler at the Dundee University Curling Club and Dundee Curling Club before the ice rink in the city closed.
In 1987, Donald was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
He then took up a post at Glasgow University where he remained until his retirement in 1997.
Donald was a member of Monifieth Probus club which he so enjoyed as a member and on the committee, twice as president, along with the coffee mornings where he enjoyed the speakers’ conversations and good company.
He enjoyed having his family around him and was very proud of watching his grandchildren grow and find their way. He managed to live long enough to meet his great-granddaughter.
Sadly, dementia and Alzheimer’s took hold in his final years. Donald was so fortunate for the care and attention afforded to him by the staff at Balcarres nursing home who looked after and protected him during Covid.
In the words of one of his former research students, Tim Pharaoh said: “We bid a sad farewell to a wonderful geologist, supervisor, companion and raconteur. He was a marvellous man who will be greatly missed.”