As well as running the council catering service in schools and other council sites in the Borders region, he was chair of ASSISTfm, the organisation for Scottish local authority service providers, stepping down in 2017 after a two-year term in charge.
In a valedictory email message to colleagues, he wrote: “I have reached the ripe old age (hard to believe, I know) when the thought of leisure pastimes, and the flexibility to do as I please, is a little more tempting than the idea of work - and so I am heading off into retirement.
“I have been here for ten wonderful years working with the catering team both in HQ and in many schools across the Borders.
“I have been incredibly lucky to find myself as part of a team which has been the best I have ever worked with. This group of loyal, professional, committed and hard-working people have enabled Scottish Borders Council catering service to be considered to be among the best in Scotland.
“I have hugely enjoyed knowing and working with you all. Thank you for letting me part of your world for the past 10 years. I have had so much fun, so many laughs and plenty of great experiences - I will take many happy memories with me.
“My time at SBC and with ASSIST has definitely, unequivocally, without a doubt been the best 10 years of my working life.”
In 2013 he walked and cycled 600 miles from Fife to Deal in Kent to raise money for Cancer Research UK after his granddaughter was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, an aggressive childhood cancer.
The route recreated the walk his own grandfather Jimmy had walked back in 1933 when the miner left his wife and son to look for work. His granddaughter Belle joined him for the last mile into Deal, but died the same year.
He subsequently raised almost £50,000 for the charity.