We Remember Ross
The Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh would like to pay tribute to Ross who died suddenly and unexpectedly on 2nd September 2021 following a hospital operation. We are very shocked and saddened by Ross’ passing.
Over many years Ross worked tirelessly and selflessly in ACE and ECAP to further the struggle for social justice. His contributions were many. He did a huge amount of work in cataloguing, digitising and physically organising the Scottish Radical Library and the Autonomous Archive, both based at the ACE premises. He was the soul of both, and his spirit and legacy will live on in future SRL activities.
Some of us first met Ross at solidarity demonstrations in Dundee and elsewhere organised through the Scotland-wide Action Against Austerity network, Ross showing his commitment by travelling himself from Fife to attend the demos. We then got to know him and he became deeply involved in ACE and ECAP.
In recent years Ross was the principal person looking after the ECAP and ACE websites. This included liasing with providers, posting articles, developing the sites and much more. Ross was also one of the main activists involved in ECAP and ACE social media, posting many articles and conscientiously replying to messages and queries.
Ross set up the current ACE email, and monitored the messages, making sure that emails were responded to and that the ACE working group was informed of new communications. He equally did much invaluable work on the ECAP email.
Before the pandemic Ross would often journey through from his home in Fife to Edinburgh to staff and work in the ACE premises, including spending hours in the ACE “tunnel” organising the archive.
Ross was a dear comrade for us, but probably you met him too in reading our social media posts or in receiving a reply from us about ECAP, ACE or the SRL. Please keep him in your thoughts as a wonderful comrade, activist and person who never sought the limelight or to promote himself but rather made an enormous contribution, without claiming any credit for it. He was completely committed to the cause. He was always very calm, great to work with and a good friend. We will always remember him.