Robert Grieve (town planner)

Professor Sir Robert (Bob) Grieve (Kt.) MA(Glas), DLitt(H-W), LLD(Strath), Drhc(Edin), MICE, FRTPI, HonFRIAS, HonFRSGS
1st Chairman of the Highlands and Islands Development Board
In office 1965 – 1970
Succeeded by	Sir Andrew Gilchrist
1st Professor of Town and Regional Planning, University of Glasgow
In office 1964 – 1974
Succeeded by	Gordon Cameron
Chief Planning Officer for Scotland at the Scottish Office
In office 1960 – 1964
Personal details
Born	11 December 1910 Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland
Died	25 October 1995 Edinburgh, Scotland
Spouse(s)	Mary Blackburn
Children	Ann, Elizabeth, Iain and William
Parents	Catherine
Alma mater	Royal College of Science and Technology
Profession	Civil Engineer and Town Planner

Professor Sir Robert Grieve FRSE RTPI RIAS FRSGS LLD DLit (11 December 1910-25 October 1995) was a Scottish polymath: engineer, planner, academic, montaineer, poet, raconteur and visionary. Grieve played a pivotal part in both the Clyde Valley Regional Plan and the Highlands and Islands Development Board. Reflecting on his career, he described it as a process of "falling up the ladder".

Grieve was born on 11 December 1910 in Maryhill, Glasgow in a tenement, one of six children to Peter Grieve and his wife, Catherine Boyle. Grieve's father, was a Clydeside boilermaker who did little with his family other than provide a weekly wage packet. His mother, Catherine, was radically socialist, well read and a caring and faithful Roman Catholic. Catherine took Grieve out of the local Roman Catholic School, recognising his potential and intelligence. She was upset that she could not send Grieve to St Aloysius or other fee-paying Roman Catholic school, instead sending him to North Kelvinside school.

The greatest influences on Grieve in his early years were his mother and his uncle Tom. He later described his mother as "a caged tigress". Grieve was taken on "enormous walks" by his uncle. They would travel by tram to get to the countryside. This is where Grieve first saw "the hills of the Campsies in the distance, and once far away the bulk of Ben Lomond".

Grieve learnt values from his uncle and mother of nature and book loving, and a questioning and critical mind. He rarely spoke of his uncle without being moved to tears.

At weekends and holidays Grieve continued walking in the nearby countryside in the Campsie Fells, Loch Lomondside, the Trossachs and the west coast. Looking in at Glasgow, rather than being immersed in it, spaked his determination to alter and improve city dwellers lives.

Grieve trained and qualified as a civil engineer at the Royal College of Science and Technology. While working for the Glasgow Corporation, Grieve was further encouraged to take night classes and become a qualified town planner, passing the final exam of the Town Planning Institute in 1937.

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