Sir Angus Grossart: One of Scotland’s great original thinkers: Ian McConnell

However, he always had fascinating insights to offer when he did decide to talk to the media.

And what came across was his ability to stand back from the herd and, over many cycles, not to get caught up in any way whatsoever in financial market fads and hysteria.

The messages in his brief but understandably closely watched chairman’s statements in the accounts of his Edinburgh-based merchant bank, Noble Grossart, reflected a clear, cool-headed grasp of whatever was the prevailing environment and an acute awareness of the importance of human qualities.

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His statement on Noble Grossart Holdings’ accounts for the year to January 2021 summed up his outlook well.

In this statement, he emphasised the importance in uncertain times of “human judgemental qualities and values”, a long-term approach and prudence.

Sir Angus wrote: “I underlined last year the particular importance, in uncertain times, of human judgemental qualities and values and the ability to translate complex analysis into decisions and to then instruct action. It is the antithesis of bureaucracy, to which, I hope, we are anthropologically immune.”

With these remarks, he appeared to encapsulate much of his own philosophy and that of Noble Grossart. However, his comments also seemed to shine a light on much of what is wrong with some big corporates that have become almost Stepford-like with their bureaucracy. Such bureaucracy has often rather snuffed out the role of the individual and inhibited complex analysis. Endless tomes on leadership and management theory have probably not helped matters.

Scotland’s financial and broader corporate sector, like that elsewhere in the UK and further afield, has over years and decades seen many opportunities lost because of bureaucracy and a failure to take people into account.

In the successes, what Sir Angus described as “human judgemental qualities” have tended to be to the fore. Obviously, such qualities have enabled Noble Grossart to continue to thrive through many trials and tribulations.

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Sir Angus was also chairman of Edinburgh Partners, launched by fund manager Sandy Nairn.

Mr Nairn freed himself from the strictures of Scottish Widows to launch Edinburgh Partners, which was built up from a standing start and was sold in 2018 to US giant Franklin Templeton in a deal believed to have valued the Scottish fund management house at more than £100 million.

Sir Angus, of course, served on the boards of many other companies, from the biggest corporates such as Royal Bank of Scotland and Trinity Mirror to more youthful businesses including strategic and corporate communications agency Charlotte Street Partners.

He was a long-time chairman of Scottish Investment Trust. And he played a key role in many major corporate deals in Scotland, including the rescue of the Alexander Dennis bus-building operation.

Sir Angus was also a major figure in the arts world.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Sunday: “Sir Angus was a titan of Scotland’s business community and made a significant contribution to the arts, culture and public life.”

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Malcolm Robertson and Andrew Wilson, co-founders of Charlotte Street Partners, said in a joint tribute to Sir Angus: “Several times, we left his company having been given a polite lecture on strengthening the balance sheet, or the quality of our management accounts, whether we cared enough about cost, or if we might inadvertently be regarding activity as performance.

“Having audaciously asked this mighty figure of Scottish business and the arts to chair our soon-to-be-established small business in 2013, every time we sat in Angus’s ‘banking hall’ we learned more than we had bargained for.”

A long time ago now, at a dinner in Edinburgh, Sir Angus gave an insight into his boardroom strategies while we were waiting for the next stage in the proceedings.

He seemed to indicate there was an element of fun, when asking questions of senior company management as a non-executive director, in rolling a metaphorical “hand grenade” down the table and the person who was being asked for the information not knowing “whether or not the pin is out”. Of course, keeping members of the top management team on their toes and ensuring they are able to justify their decisions is a crucial role of a non-executive director, so a line of questioning which does not make it clear where the discussion is going is a useful tool. And those being questioned by Sir Angus, in terms of his knowledge, insights and analytical abilities, would surely always have been wise to assume the metaphorical pin was out and give straight answers.

In his statement on Noble Grossart Holdings’ accounts for the year to January 2021, Sir Angus said: “I believe that our strong condition and good prospects do not derive from one year or the annual fluctuations of markets. It reflects our consistent long-term strategy, anchored in prudence, but with a self-challenging and decision focussed approach.”

Sir Angus, even well into his 80s, seemed to retain a youthful exuberance and energy.

During a conversation with the merchant banker in the depths of the pandemic, reflecting on its protracted effects, Sir Angus had quipped: “It’s just as well we’re both young men.”

And also during the pandemic, when asked if there was anything else he wished to say beyond the specific subject at hand, the only further declaration he made was that he had yet to reach his peak.

It seemed like a typical remark from someone who always appeared to strive for excellence, and also supported so many others in doing so.