Findlay Russell (1930-2005) was a farmer, entrepreneur and campaigner. He helped found Glasgow Zoo and also campaigned successfully to widen the Glasgow-Stirling road. In 1953, after much research he was able to point out that the road was the busiest in Scotland on which he founded to lobby for the road improvements The result was a meeting with J Henderson Stewart, under-secretary of state for Scotland, and the building of the new road . Born at the family farm of Haircraigs near Denny, and twice dux of Dennyloanhead School. A canny businessman, he was always able to identify a gap in the market ,such as supplying Calor gas to the agricultural industry. Farm machinery, ice-cream production, vending machines and self-build homes were all at various times part of the Findlay Russell business empire. In 1936 he started selling the family farm’s surplus milk in a mobile milk bar. He parked it outside the bus station, selling milk shakes. When the Kincardine Bridge opened in 1936, Findlay employed Bette Kidd, to staff one of his milk bars. They married in 1940 He sold Haircraigs in 1947 to concentrate on his businesses. His success selling ice-cream at the Highland shows enabled him to look more generally at agricultural shows and outdoor sporting occasions, supplying catering, tents, marquees and PA systems. He was also elected as a member of the Institute of Patentees and Inventors. He was a local councillor for more than 30 years, a special constable, a prominent Rotarian, a driving force behind Age Concern, and a constant worker for the Order of St John. He was prominent in the preservation of Callendar House, and the restoration of Kinnaird House. Always an animal lover, he was a founder member at the 1947 opening of Calderpark Zoo. Unsurprisingly, he gained the catering franchise, He was predeceased by his wife, Bette (Elizabeth Kidd), and survived by his children Margaret, Archie and Elizabeth, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. adapted from The Herald