A well-known Dundee businessman and former local Chamber of Commerce chairman has died aged 82.
Bob (Robert) Barnett ran Barnetts Motor Group with 11 dealerships in the city and has been described as a “Dundonian through and through.”
Bob, who was born on January 22 1936 and educated at Morgan Academy, did National Service in Egypt and later in Cyprus.
His business career started in his father’s Dundee Express removals business.
A two-week induction into the business in London moving furniture convinced him that his destiny did not lie in that direction and he joined the company truck and car business Taybridge Garage in Roseangle.
This was where his real passion for cars and the car business was born.
With the death of his father, he took over running the company and steadily expanded the business into what became Barnetts Motor Group with 11 dealerships representing a variety of brands including Volkswagen and Volvo.
Bob was said to be an innovative leader, visiting the USA on many occasions to pick up ideas on how to run a better business.
Throughout his working life he served for periods as chairman of Dundee Tayside Chamber of Commerce, president of the Scottish Motor Trade Association and subsequently elected a fellow of the Institute of the Motor Industry, chairman of Whitehall Theatre Ltd and president of Claverhouse Rotary.
An avid sailor, he owned a variety of yachts through his life and was a life member of the Royal Tay Yacht Club in Broughty Ferry.
He competed five times in one of the world’s toughest yacht races – The Royal Ocean Racing Club Fastnet, including participating in the infamous 1979 event where 15 people died when a storm swept through the race.
For 10 years, he and fellow sailor friends spent one month a year sailing and exploring the Caribbean.
He was a keen golfer for most of his life and was a member of Panmure Barry and Blairgowrie golf clubs, as well as being an active skier and a keen motorcyclist.
He had an enduring fondness for Cyprus and during his retirement he lived there for 15 years before illness brought him home three years ago.
He died on Monday.
A family man, he was married to Alison for over 50 years, with two children Paul and Tracy and six grandchildren.
