A tribute to Ken Munro
Ken Munro, a founder Trustee of the John Smith Memorial Trust, died of cancer on 23 September 2008. The memorial service, in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, on Saturday 27 September was attended by many hundreds of friends and admirers from Scotland and the rest of Europe. Ken lived a full and fulfilling life in politics, industry and in the service of the European Union both in London and finally as the Head of European Commission’s representation in Scotland. His extraordinary contribution to public life was marked in the eloquent speeches in St Giles’. He was devoted to Scotland and to the ideals that brought the European Union into existence.
We in the John Smith Memorial Trust have good reason to remember Ken with gratitude and thanks. When John Smith suddenly died in 1994, Ken, a friend since their student days at Glasgow University, was a tower of strength for Elizabeth, John’s widow. When she, with the support of friends and family, resolved to create a suitable memorial to John’s life and values, Ken was her principal support and mentor. Together, Ken and Elizabeth built up the programme of bringing young leaders to the UK to see our democracy at work. They tried different formats before, in 2000, the Trust settled on the Fellowship Programme that has been such a success and which has been accurately described as a living memorial to John’s values and ideals. Without Ken’s support, advice and personal contribution as vice chairman, Elizabeth would have faced a much more daunting task in creating this remarkable Fellowship Programme.
Ken welcomes the 2007 Fellows to Edinburgh
Of course, the work that Ken and Elizabeth did behind the scenes was largely invisible to those who took part in the programme over the years. But Ken brought to the day-to-day work of the programme itself a larger than life contribution. He never missed an event that brought the trustees into personal contact with the Fellows. He always attended and threw himself in to the social activities at the Leadership Trust weekends at Ross-on-Wye. Even when he retired from the Trust Board he remained as chairman of the Advisory Council and acted as the welcoming host to the Fellows when they arrived in Edinburgh to begin their visits to the democratic institutions and personalities of the UK. The sense of loss among the Fellows will be very real.
A friend wrote to Elizabeth Munro, his widow, “Ken had many friends and no enemies. He was, quite simply, a good man. He lived a good life; he did good things; and he emanated a spirit of goodness.” We shall all miss this good man. But in offering our sympathy to Elizabeth and the whole family, we take pride in the fact that we enjoyed the privilege of numbering Ken among our friends. He made a difference.