Peter Carmichael

born Dunblane 26.03.33.  

    Son of a farm labourer, he attended McLaren High School, Callender, went on to win a first class honours degree in Natural Philosophy at Glasgow University, and became an electronic engineer.   In 1965 at the electronic plant of Hewlett-Packard Ltd,  South Queensferry,he headed up a team of engineers which invented and brought into production an electronic testing instrument, the Microwave Link Analyser, which was used widely throughout the  telecommunications industry.   The MLA won the Queen's Award for Industry in 1969.   Rapid promotion through Hewlett-Packard saw him, in 1974, joint managing Director of the company in the UK.   In 1982 he resigned from Hewlett-Packard and joined the Scottish Development Agency as Director for Small Business and Electronics.   He remained there until retirement.   He was greatly honoured in 1981 to receive a CBE from the Queen in recognition of his unique contribution to the electronics industry and equally in 1984 when Heriot-Watt University, in Edinburgh, conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Science.   In his spare time he dabbled in repairing clocks,  the engineer coming out again, and on his retirement opened a small Clock Shop in Edinburgh which flourished for the next few years until he decided to retire properly and sold on to a young clock maker, Ronnie Rafter, who is still operating successfully from Peter's little shop.   All his life he loved music and was an accomplished fiddle player.   In his earlier years he played in a ceilidh band but, towards the end of his life, as his fingers grew slightly arthritic, he only played for his own pleasure and for his friends.   He was a keen fisherman, casting his lines over lochs and rivers throughout Scotland.   He was also an avid gardener and his knowledge of plants vast.   Latterly he became obsessed by Genealogy,  tracing his family tree back to the 1600's.   He generated huge amounts of information on his branch of the Carmichael family and had his own Web site.  

He was married twice, firstly to Isobel Barrie who gave him six  children, who in turn have, to date, given him five grandchildren,  and finally to June Philip, wife of nineteen years in whose arms he died on August 28, 1999.   A kind and gentle man with a wry sense of humour he was loved and respected by all who knew him.