Robert Adams OBE, who was managing director of the world-famous AH McIntosh of Kirkcaldy, has died aged 90.
Mr Adams, who was made honorary president of the Fife branch of the Parachute Regiment Association, was born in Glasgow in September 1922.
He joined the army at 17 when the Second World War broke out. Despite a fear of heights, he joined the parachute regiment in search of adventure.
He went on to find himself dropped behind enemy lines and saw service in the Ardennes at the Battle of the Bulge.
During the 1950s he took part in athletics, competing alongside the McWhirter twins, Ross and Norris later famous for founding the Guinness Book of Records.
Mr Adams met his wife, the late Mary, in 1947 at the YMCA in Manchester. He was on his way to take up a post as accountant for a timber company in Ghana, West Africa, then the Gold Coast.
They married in 1950 in Stonehaven and went to Ghana together, where their eldest son Bob was born. They had two more children, David and Lorna, after they returned to Scotland.
Mr Adams joined AH McIntosh and Co furniture manufacturer in Kirkcaldy in 1959 as an accountant. He went on to become managing director and travelled the world representing the company.
As a resident of Aberdour for more than 50 years, he was always willing to get involved in village life.
He was part of the founding group which restarted the then derelict tennis club. He served as club president for several years and was still playing tennis into his eighties.
He was also a member of Aberdour Golf Club and the village’s cultural association.
Through his influence, AH McIntosh sponsored the Scottish Tennis Championships, allowing Wimbledon standard players such as Martina Navratilova to be attracted to Scotland.
Mr Adams was awarded an OBE for services to Scottish industry in 1980.
In his retirement, he pursued his lifelong desire to write. He has written, published and performed several plays and two novels.
His plays have been performed at the Edinburgh Science Festival, the Byre Theatre, Buckhaven Theatre, the Netherbow and on tour around Scotland.
Mr Adams is survived by his three children and five grandchildren, Claire, Ross, Fiona, Jack and Megan.