Entrepreneur Tom Flockhart loses short battle against cancer aged 73

Scottish copy and print services entrepreneur Tom Flockhart has died, aged 73, after a short battle with cancer.

Mr Flockhart launched Capital Copiers in 1979, supplying photocopiers and typewriters from a small office in Edinburgh. The firm moved to its current headquarters, in McDonald Road, Edinburgh, in 1988.

A Glasgow branch opened in 1992 and expansion to Grampian House in Virginia Street, Aberdeen, came in 2006.

Three years later, the company – by then operating as Capital Document Solutions following a name change in 2000 to reflect new services – acquired Granite Citybased West End Business Systems.

A further acquisition in 2013 of Inverness based Highland Office Equipment, followed by branches in Dundee and Shetland increased Capital’s portfolio and helped to establish the company as a Scotlandwide supplier.

Today, the business turns over about £20 million annually and employs more than 200 people across operations in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Inverness and Lerwick.

Capital has notched up many years of installation and servicing experience in the North Sea oil and gas industry.

Mr Flockhart had first hand experience of the offshore sector, having once worked in the northeast as a copier salesman for multinational, diversified company 3M.

He was an accomplished networker and familiar face at major business events throughout Scotland.

Proud of his modest roots as an adopted child growing up in a council house in Prestonpans, East Lothian, he credited his upbringing and his school years at Preston Lodge High School with giving him the drive to go on and build his business empire.

He showed an entrepreneurial streak from an early age, working schoolboy jobs including gardening, paper rounds, fixing up old bikes and even selling sweets and haircuts to other schoolchildren.

Capital’s late founder and managing director is survived by his partner, Mandy, his four children – Pamela, Stuart, Neil and Lynsey – and seven grandchildren.

Lynn Harrison, Mr Flockhart’s PA for the past

17 years, said: “We are all in shock.

“To describe him as larger than life doesn’t do him justice. He was passionate, driven and once you met him you certainly couldn’t forget him.

“He was working right up until the end, still going over documents and putting in his thoughts and ideas for a Scottish Government tender.”

Mr Flockhart’s funeral will be held at Warriston Crematorium, Edinburgh, at noon on Tuesday, followed by a celebration of his life at Prestonfield House Hotel.

His family have received so many messages of condolence and comments about Mr Flockhart they have set up a special email, 90TFmemories@gmail. com, to collect memories of him.

SUCCESSFUL: Tom Flockhart was managing director of Capital Document Solutions.

Tom Flockhart, seated, with his team in the early days of Capital Copiers in Edinburgh, where the company had been launched in 1979.