Tributes paid to hillwalker killed in 1000-foot Cairngorms fall

Capital fund manager died after slipping from ridge

TRIBUTES have been paid to an Edinburgh fund manager who has died in a hillwalking accident.

Colleagues of Daniel Leaf said he was a “good friend and talented investor” following his death during a walking trip in the Cairngorms on Saturday.

Mr Leaf, the former head of investments at the Bank of Scotland’s ( BoS) Por t f ol i o Management Service, fell 1000ft after he slipped from a ridge while walking high in the mountains near Inverness.

A spokesman for Poli c e Scotland said that the father-ofone was airlifted away from the scene after members of his party raised the alarm, however he had suffered fatal injuries in the fall.

The 55-year-old was co-manager of Saracen Global Income & Growth in the capital, and had managed the fund since its launch in 2011.

A statement released by Saracen Fund Managers said: “Daniel will be remembered as a talented investor, a dedicated member of our team, a good friend and a fine man.

“We will all miss him dearly and our thoughts are with his wife Sandra and son Sam at this sad time.”

Mr Leaf was a prominent member of the financial services industry in the capital and previously held a number of roles with international companies DANIEL LEAF: Colleagues said the fund manager was a good friend. before joining Saracen. While at BoS, he was responsible for investment strategy for the group’s discretionary wealth management customers, and he stayed with the firm from 2007 to 2009.

Previously he spent almost 25 ye a r s in institutional stockbroking, and was a managing director at Deutsche Bank in Edinburgh. He subsequently set up an Edinburgh office for Teather and Greenwood.

He star ted his career in stockbroking as an analyst at

He will be remembered as a talented investor, a dedicated member of our team, a good friend and a fine man

Wood Mackenzie, where he helped its research team in the brewing sector achieve the industry’s top ranking from its institutional clients.

A biography released by his firm said that while he was originally from London, Mr Leaf spent more than 20 years in Scotland, where he remained a loyal and “slightly obsessive” follower of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

Mr Leaf’s position will be filled by his colleague David Keir, Saracen’s head of research.

A spokesman for Poli c e Scotland said: “We received a report that a man had fallen in the Cairngorms around 3pm while he was walking with a party of other people.

“It appears that they saw him falling and it quickly became apparent he had suffered serious injury.

“A helicopter was dispatched and he was airlifted off the mountain.

“Due to the nature of the fall a Mountain Rescue Team was not required.”

Mr Leaf ’s death is the latest accident to happen in the Scottish mountains, and follows that of a 57-year-old man from Glasgow who fell from Ben Nevis in the Highlands in March.

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