He was described at his funeral in Glasgow as a “proud old warrior who feared no man”.
Much of the eulogy, meanwhile, suggested Darshan Singh Chhokar would simply want to be remembered as a good father. The last 17 years make it clear he was both.
Mr Chhokar, who died of cancer last week aged 76, faced the ultimate nightmare for any parent when his son Surjit was stabbed to death outside his home in Overtown, Lanarkshire, in 1998.
To add to Mr Chhokar’s pain, despite years of police investigation and a protracted legal process, no one has ever been convicted in connection with his son’s death.
In the 17 years following the stabbing, right up to his own death, Mr Chhokar campaigned relentlessly for Surjit's killers to be brought to justice. He kept the case in the public eye and continuously pressed the authorities to pursue those responsible. He would not, could not, sit back and allow his son’s death to be in vain.
It is a measure of this unfailing commitment that a man is expected to go on trial accused of murder in the new year.
It is also a measure of the respect Mr Chhokar was held in that his funeral was attended by the likes of Justice Secretary Michael Matheson, Solicitor General Lesley Thomson QC and a number of MSPs and union representatives. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon sent a personal tribute.
Like Doreen Lawrence, the mother of murdered black teenager Stephen, Mr Chhokar refused to stop campaigning for justice.
He will not live to see justice, should it come. But other members of the Chhokar family and those who have stood side by side with him for almost two decades continue the fight.
Darshan Singh Chhokar was a brave, articulate and dignified man - Scotland will remember him.
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