TRIBUTES have been paid to a father, financier and musician who notched up a range of outstanding achievements in several fields.
Julian Coutts, who was 45 and lost a two-year battle with terminal illness at the start of this month, excelled in bo
th the academic and business world.
As a chief scientific officer for Edinburgh-based fund management firm Standard Life Investments, Mr Coutts, who lived in Trinity, was well loved by both his family and colleagues, who admired and respected him.
Blessed with an incredible intellect, he was regarded as having one of the best minds at his school, Edinburgh Academy, where his wife Jenny now heads the chemistry department, and was the winner of a Salvesen Scholarship.
He gained a place at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University, where he achieved a first-class degree before taking up a doctorate examining the theoretical physics behind high-energy lasers.
Even when he was an undergraduate, his former professor Colin Webb said he contributed to several important scientific papers.
Thanks to achieving the Lindemann Fellowship, a prestigious scholarship, he was able to travel to America to research astrophysics.
After a stint back in Oxford, he and his wife Jenny took the decision to move to Edinburgh to raise a family in Trinity.
He took his first steps into the commercial world with BP, then as a fund manager with bank Morgan Grenfell, before being head-hunted by Standard Life Investments.
The company's chief executive Keith Skeoch paid tribute to a friend and esteemed colleague.
He said: "Julian was simply one of the brightest and nicest people it has been my privilege to meet during my 50 years.
"His infectious enthusiasm for dealing with difficult technical or mathematical problems was matched by his ability to communicate complex issues in a down-to-earth manner to everyone.
"Many of us will remember his explanation of some of the issues surrounding investment risk by using 'follow the wire' apparatus – a favourite at school fetes.
"For all his intellectual firepower, Julian will be remembered for his sense of fun."
Aside from his academic and commercial achievement, Mr Coutts was a devoted member of his local Church of Scotland parish in Wardie, where he became an elder and youth group leader. He was also a distinguished musician, composer, song-writer and amateur dramatist.
His former colleague at Standard Life Investments, James Aird, said: "He was so clever, when we hired him we had to get a consultant in to interview him – just to check out he wasn't bluffing."
He is survived by wife Jenny, daughters Zoe and Imogen, his mother and father, Gordon and Winifred, and sister Charlotte.
The full article contains 469 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
