Trust Advisor Rt Hon George Reid honoured by Glasgow University
Glasgow University, 17 June 2009: Member of the Trust’s Advisory Board, the Rt Hon George Reid, has been awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws of Glasgow University for his political and humanitarian work.
The honour was conferred, said Principal Sir Muir Russell, for Mr Reid’s “eminent contribution to the political and civic culture of Scotland and for his exemplary service to international welfare and political understanding”.
Mr Reid is a former MP, Member of the Council of Europe, MSP and Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. For 12 years between Westminster and Holyrood, he was a Director of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, working in wars and disasters around the world.
Today he is a member of the Privy Council and a visiting professor at Glasgow (in Citizenship) and at Stirling (in conflict studies). He also has doctorates from Edinburgh, Queen Margaret, St Andrews and Stirling Universities.
Mr Reid has a life-long interest in Central and Eastern Europe, first visiting the USSR in 1959, living in Yerevan 1988-89, and continues to visit the region regularly for the John Smith Memorial Trust and other organisations. In 1988 he was awarded the Pirogov Medal of the USSR for his work in the Armenian earthquake and in 2007 the Medal of Merit of the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation.
Noting his commitment to a Parliament for Scotland, to active citizenship worldwide, and to higher education, Sir Muir concluded: “George Reid is a man of learning and a man of the people”.