It is with great sadness that we report the death of Scottish Conservative Councillor George Cruickshank.
The Highland Council has paid tribute to Councillor George Cruickshank who sadly died at home, in the early hours of Sunday morning, 5 April 2020.
George was born in Newcastle on 2 April 1946, before moving to Fort Augustus in Highland at the age of 15. He met his wife Christine in 1966. They married in 1967 and have lived since then in Drumnadrochit.
Father to Lynn and brother to Norman and Gordon, George was a local business owner for many years, running the West End Garage before becoming a Highland Councillor in May 2017. He was elected to serve Ward 12, Aird and Loch Ness, alongside Cllrs Helen Carmichael, Margaret Davidson and Emma Knox.
Councillor Cruickshank served on the Council’s City of Inverness Area Committee, Highland Licensing Board and Highland Licensing Committee; Pensions Board and South Planning Applications Committee.
Convener of the Council, Bill Lobban paid tribute to Cllr Cruickshank. He said: “George was a very popular Member whom I got to know really well over the last three years. He often brought a sense of reality to the Council chamber. He will be sorely missed by his colleagues but most especially by his family and close friends who have our deepest sympathies.”
Leader of The Highland Council, and fellow Ward Member, Margaret Davidson added: “George was a good friend and a cheerful, supportive colleague to me personally. He was a generous man with a rich life experience and unfailing good humour. I know he will be missed in the council chamber and in his community of Glen Urquhart. My sincere sympathies to his family.”
Cllr Andrew Jarvie, Leader of the Highland Council Scottish Conservative & Unionist Group, said: “George has been a longstanding member of the Party for many decades and had risen to the occasion twice for first a 2015 by-election and then his own election in 2017. He always brought simplicity, experience and sharp intellect to both our own and Council meetings for the last three years. He was embedded in his community and indeed I had known him years previously with his garage he used to own. I admired him for all of those personal qualities. He will be missed by us all in the Conservative Group and wider Party, I can only express my deepest sympathy for his family and close friends.”