Mother’s love for Far East inspired top investor
● Gilbert pays tribute to ‘strong determined’ matriarch
One of Scotland’s best known investors has paid tribute to his “strong” and determined” mother, who passed away last week.
Martin Gilbert, the co-founder of Aberdeen Asset Management, said that Win, who died on Friday just three weeks before her 90th birthday, helped “open many opportunities” for him.
Mr Gilbert said the love for Asia his mother passed down to him was a major factor in his decision to expand the investment fund into the Far East.
Mrs Gilbert moved to a rubber plantation in Malaysia’s Carey Island in 1953 to be with her husband, Jim. The couple married in Penang the same year.
It was a time, points out Mr Gilbert, where it took six weeks to sail home to Aberdeen, a journey he himself made several times while attending boarding school in Scotland. He started at Robert Gordon’s College at the age of nine, and went on to secure an accountancy degree, followed by a law degree, at Aberdeen University. He went on join a small law firm, and in June 1983, together with a couple of colleagues, he spun out its investment unit, creating a stand-alone entity.
It would eventually grow into Britain’s biggest independent fund manager, thanks in large part to its business in Asia and a series of acquisitions.
The company eventually merged with Standard Life in 2017 to form Standard Life Aberdeen. Mr Gilbert stepped down as the firm’s co-chief executive in March.
Although he considers himself a proud Aberdonian, the Malaysian-born Scots businessman said both he and his mother relished life in their adopted homeland.
He said: “My mother was the matriarch of our family, the fulcrum for all of us around her. Her kind, compassionate nature won her many friends and her non-judgmental approach was very welcome during a period of huge change in Malaysia.”
Mr Gilbert, 64, said his mother ensured both he and his brother, Douglas – who died in 2015 at the age of 56 – received the “best education” possible.
He added: “She created a very happy home for us in Malaysia and my love of Asia was a big influence in decisions to take the then Aberdeen Asset Management into the Far East. She made sure that we had strong roots in Aberdeen sending us back to school there as teenagers.”
Mrs Gilbert is survived by her husband, Jim, 92; Martin; her grandchildren, Alan, Jamie, Mhairi, and Kirstin; amd two great-grandchildren, Sophie and Rachel. Her funeral will be held at 1pm this Friday at Baldarroch crematorium in Crathes.