Mr Cameron Roy Marchand Buchanan

Cameron Roy Marchand Buchanan (Field House, 1960-1965) 

Died 18th June 2023

The following obituary was kindly provided by Peter Barrow (Segar’s, 1960-1965) 

It is very unlikely that anyone who ever met and befriended Cameron (Cam) Buchanan throughout his irrepressible and colourful life, will ever forget him.

When he passed away on June 18 2023, after a 12- year battle with glioblastoma, during which he accomplished more than most of us do in a lifetime, his obituaries were filled with words and phrases such as “larger than life”, “colourful character”, “charming and gregarious”, “breath of fresh air”, and “a great inspiration”.

Perhaps most definitively, as Reuben Earl, chairman of the Midlothian Conservative and Unionist Association, said when learning of Cam’s passing, “He inspired everyone around him, showed us all how to live and the importance of seizing the day”.

As he was during his life, so he was at Teddies, where I had the great good fortune to meet him and with whom I had a lifelong friendship.  He filled his time at the school- which he loved and was a central part of his entire life – being captain of the chess club, a member of both the drama group and the orchestra, an Under Officer in the CCF, a sacristan in chapel, and a performer in many school plays, quite apart from being a rower, a tennis player, a house prefect and a silver medalist with the Duke of Edinburgh Awards.  He knew everyone, he radiated goodwill and friendship, he was gregarious, social and just plain great fun to be around.

In his magnificent history of St. Edward’s School, 1863- 2013, Malcolm Oxley recounts:

“Cameron Buchanan, who arrived in 1960, had a close chum in Peter Barrow.  “We rather fancied ourselves as literary scribes”, Buchanan recalls, “and wrote the Rag Revue for 1965, our leaving present to the school. On one occasion (as we were deep in what we thought was erudite conversation), passing the Warden’s study, Frank Fisher leaned out of the window and said, in his usual modular tone, “What I want to know, Barrow and Buchanan, when you are both talking, who listens to whom?”.  That was Cam- energetic, enthusiastic and bubbling over with the excitement of life.

It was those qualities that drove him throughout his journey. He discovered linguistic fluency in French, German, Italian and several other languages.  He became managing director of the textile firm George Harrison & Co, later Harrisons of Edinburgh, chairman of the UK Fashion Exports Forum and a Board member of the British Knitting and Clothing Export Council, in which capacity he travelled the world on behalf of the textile industry.  He was Edinburgh’s Icelandic Consul, a member of the Scottish Parliament for Lothian (2013 – 2016), Vice Chairman of the Scottish Conservative Party, honorary president of the Midlothian Conservatives and also established the Cameron Buchanan Fund in support of the Brain Tumour Charity. Many of these responsibilities were performed even while Cam was stricken with a condition that increasingly reduced his mobility and burdened him with many medical challenges. Yet, he carried on, adding resilience and courage to his many qualities, and also travelled, swam, skied, celebrated and played a hugely active role in the lives of his children and grandchildren – right to the very end. Fittingly, there is now a website www.bemorecam.com, filled with snapshots of a life truly lived, where you may wish to share your own photos and memories of him. It also hosts the full transcripts of the eulogies from his memorial and the entire filmed memorial service, should you wish to view these.

Our favorite saying at Teddies was “Pietas Parentum”, the school motto, although we never quite worked out what it meant.  As Cam grew older, his favorite saying was “Carpe Diem”; and while he pretended that he didn’t know what that meant either, his life was filled with days that were seized, shaken, fulfilled and engulfed by his zest and love for his family, for his legion of friends and for the whole world around him.

At school, and throughout our lives, we called each other “Boz”. First, because we both thought we would be the next Charles Dickens and next, because we fantasized that I, as the writer, could be James Boswell to Cam’s Samuel Johnson. Together, we would change the world and tell everyone how we had done it.

Well, Boz, you did change the world you lived in, infinitely for the better. And I have the privilege of telling part of your story, one final time. Rest in Peace, dear friend. Carpe Diem.

If you would like to leave any messages for the family or share any memories please click here.

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