SCOTTISH BRIDGE UNION
We are deeply saddened to announce the death of Sandy Duncan on January 2nd.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Diabetes UK (https://www.diabetes.org.uk/), which Rosslyn, Sandy's widow, describes as the family charity.
Sandy was born in Dunfermline, went to Edinburgh University and later joined the Scottish Equitable life insurance company where he very quickly rose to head of the data processing department. He married Rosslyn in 1983 and they have three children.
Sandy was one of our greatest and most successful players. He started at Edinburgh University, and his talent was soon recognised. With Jack Paterson he was selected for Great Britain in a Junior match against the Netherlands and played twice for Scotland in the Junior Camrose with Barnet Shenkin, winning in 1970 and tying with England in 1971.
His greatest partnership was with Brian Short. They were part of the Scottish dominance of the Camrose series in the 1970s, winning in 1976 and 77. They represented Great Britain in the 1977 Common Market Trophy, winning bronze medals. They also played for Great Britain in the European Championships in Wiesbaden in 1983 and in that same year won the Continental Life Teams, a one-off invitational event with a very strong international field.
Sandy won another Camrose with Douglas Piper in 1996. He always supported Scottish events and also made many forays to play in England. He was so successful that he displaced John MacLaren at the top of the Master Point ranking list in 1995. He might have retained top spot had he not taken a job in the USA, where he worked for a decade playing little bridge in Scotland. When he retired he returned home and resumed his successful bridge career.
He was a member of the Scottish team that won Gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. He captained the Scottish Open team at 4 European Championships and played in our Senior Team in Madeira with Bob McPaul in 2022. He captained our Junior Camrose team and played in the Teltscher Trophy (Senior Camrose) in 2022. Latterly, although unwell, he still gave wise counsel when consulted.
Our condolences go to Rosslyn, his family and many, many bridge friends.