Michael Simpson, senior partner with Condies Solicitors in Perth, has died suddenly at home aged 63.
Born in Aberdeen, the eldest of four children, he enjoyed a happy childhood and showed an early addiction to card games.
He did well at school before going on to take his law degree at Aberdeen University, graduating in 1972, before studying for his Masters in Edinburgh.
His new career was to bring him more than just employment, it was also to lead him to meeting his future wife.
Mr Simpson was serving an apprenticeship with a law firm in Eyemouth and staying in digs in Berwick upon Tweed when he met Lili Saint Quentain, a young teacher who was assisting with French tuition at the local school.
They married in Aberdeen in 1975 and when Mr Simpson finished his apprenticeship in Eyemouth, he and Lili moved to Banff, where he had taken a local government job.
Not content with a desk job, within the year he had secured his first post at Condies in Perth, and they made their way south to what was to be home from then on.
Mr Simpson’s lifetime hobby was playing bridge which he learned as a boy and he went on to join the university club at Aberdeen, as well as taking classes in it.
A long-time member of the Perth Bridge Club, he would be out two or three evenings a week, and was a respected and skilful player.
He was a great reader and enjoyed fiction as well as biographies and works on history. Mr Simpson and his wife were frequent concert goers, with folk music high on their list of favourites.
He always loved to eat out and while he was never a sportsman himself, he did enjoy watching sport.
Jane Bechtel from the Humanist Society Scotland, who conducted Mr Simpson’s service, said that the “kind, generous and helpful side of Mike was one that seemed to have been built into his personality from a young age”.
His legal colleague John McLaughlin spoke of his long friendship with Mr Simpson and said he was never happier than when he was tackling some complex legal problem.
“Mike served as secretary for East of Scotland Farmers for 28 years,” said Mr McLaughlin.
“He guided them through a number of complicated legal problems, he loved this role because it combined his love of agricultural law and meeting his friends.”
Mr Simpson is survived by his wife Lili, children Sara, Emma and Nadine, and grandchildren Jessica and Jude.