While Sir Ian Grant, who died recently, stood out as one of the most impressive farming leaders of the past century, he also uniquely steered to success a wide range of non-farming bodies and companies who all valued and benefitted from his business and leadership skills.

Brought up on the family farm in Perthshire, Sir Ian was schooled at Strathallan and afterwards at Edinburgh College of Agriculture before returning home to Thorn, near Alyth, where one of the main enterprises was producing commercial cattle.

In his early days in farming, Ian followed his father in picking up top awards for his livestock. He was also known as a good judge of stock and was soon involved in prestigious events, such as the Scottish Winter Fair and the Royal Smithfield Show. He became the chief cattle steward at that later London-based event at a time when it was the premier ‘country comes to town’ event in the country.

In his early days, he was also a director of the local farm co-operative, East of Scotland Farmers – a business noted for its financial acumen. He retained this directorship for more than two decades.

Later in life and following his belief in co-operation in farming, he served in the European farm co-operative movement as chairman of the Copa Cereals Group, in Brussels.

At home after schooling, he quickly became involved within the National Farmers Union of Scotland, initially with the local Perth branch. Very soon afterwards, he was invited to sit on national committees and then, in short order, to represent his country on various committees in Brussels where he dealt with the Common Agricultural Policy for the European Community.

In 1984, he was appointed president of NFU Scotland as the leading person in the, then 20,000-member strong organisation. This was a period of considerable unrest in agriculture with turmoil between the various EU members as to the policies for the Common Agricultural Policy.

It was also a time when he had to deal with protests by farmers, but his diplomacy and tact in dealing with those gained him a reputation which saw him become a major figure on various committees in Brussels, including chairing the International Federation of Agricultural Producers – a worldwide organisation at that time which had 600m members.

During his appointment as NFUS president, he dealt with a number of challenges, including the infamous Edwina Currie interview which had ramifications for the UK poultry industry, several calamitous spells of weather in Scotland and the Chernobyl disaster.

With that latter issue, prevailing winds had carried radioactive Caesium 137 from the reactor site and deposits were discovered in grazing land in parts of the UK, including Scotland. Frantic discussions with government led to restrictions on the sale and slaughter of lambs from those areas, and a testing regime and compensation package for farmers was agreed.

Sir Ian’s negotiation skills were rapidly being recognised outwith agriculture and he was soon asked to take on further responsibilities. As the leader of a representational organisation, Sir Ian believed he should remain totally impartial and therefore rejected other approaches until the end of his tenure in 1990, when he agreed to join the Scottish Tourist Board as its chairman.

He enthusiastically led many missions in the UK and around the world to put Scotland on the international map as an attractive destination for visitors. Under his leadership, tourism became of increasing importance to the wider Scottish economy.

In 1993, Sir Ian sold the farm to concentrate fully on other responsibilities and the Grant family moved into Alyth. His charisma, dedication, interest in people and ability to quickly get to the heart of an issue meant that other appointments quickly came along, including being made chairman of the Cairngorms Partnership (where he was instrumental in the establishment of the Cairngorms National Park), a non-executive director of the Clydesdale Bank, plus deputy chairman of NFU Mutual Insurance business and non-executive director of Scottish Hydro Electric plc through its merger with Southern Electric to form SSE plc.

In 1996, he was appointed as Scottish commissioner to the Crown Estate and from 2002-2009 held the position of national chair overseeing the sovereign’s urban, marine, and rural estates across the UK and reporting to HM Treasury. This included prime properties in Regent Street and St James, offshore windfarms and fish farms, agricultural and forestry tenancies and Windsor Great Park.

During that time, he was also appointed to the board of the Scottish Exhibition Centre and as chairman was a key member of the team managing the construction of the Scottish Hydro, which opened in September, 2013, at a cost of £125m and has been widely recognised as one of the finest entertainment venues in the world.

His services to agriculture were rewarded with a CBE in 1988 and in 2010 he received a Knighthood from the late Queen at an investiture at the Palace of Holyrood. He then took up the position of trustee of the Queen Elizabeth Castle of Mey Trust.

With all these successes in the public life, Sir Ian retained his contacts with the local community, supporting the local agricultural show and the Royal Highland Show. where he was regular attender and past honorary director.

During a speech to the Blairgowrie Probus Club earlier this year, Sir Ian said: “I have been lucky enough to enjoy a very busy but stimulating and rewarding dual career path. I have met amazing people at all levels at home and abroad.

"I have seen parts of the world and cultures I never dreamed of, but no matter which part of the globe I travelled to or what scenery or spectacle I marvelled at, I was always glad to be back home in Perthshire.”

Despite his hectic business life, Sir Ian was a committed family man with wife, Eileen and their three daughters, Catherine, Jane and Rosie, their respective spouses and his six grandchildren.

For someone who had spent the main part of his life in the public eye, he enjoyed nothing better than catching up with family and friends at home.