norman somerville macfarlane baron macfarlane of bearsden kt dl born 5 march 1926 is a scottish industrialist and conservative member of the house of lordseducated at the high school of glasgow he served in palestine with the royal artillery from 1945 to 1947 while serving he suffered an injury to his neck later he founded n s macfarlane co ltd in 1949 later becoming the macfarlane group clansman plc in 1973 from 1973 to 1990 he served as managing director and as chair 197398 becoming honorary life president in 1999 he was a trustee of the national heritage memorial fund from 1984 to 1997 and of the national galleries of scotland from 1986 until 1997 most recently he directed the fundraising campaign for the kelvingrove art gallery refurbishmenthe was a member of the council cbi scotland from 1975 to 1981 a board member of the scottish development agency from 1979 until 1987 and a member of the royal fine art commission for scotland from 1980 to 1982macfarlane received a knighthood in 1983 was created a life peer with the title baron macfarlane of bearsden of bearsden in the district of bearsden and milngavie on 29 july 1991 and made a knight of the thistle in 1996on 23 february 2007 lord macfarlane received the freedom of the city of glasgow at a ceremony in the glasgow city chambers by lord provost liz cameron the lord provost said i am delighted to present our highest civic honour to one of our greatest glaswegians lord macfarlane has achieved a great deal in his own life and done so much for his home city and country in the fields of business commerce the arts and charity lord macfarlanes devotion to glasgow is perhaps summed up by his tireless work as the chairman of the kelvingrove refurbishment appeal where his inspirational work for refurbishment of our most beloved building resulted in the huge sum of 1275 million being donated to kelvingrove his support for glasgow has been unstinting and it has been wonderful to work with him he is a most deserving recipient of the freedom of the city of glasgow the entrepreneurial exchange award 1995 st mungo award 2005 goodman business award 2008 business and the arts lifetime achievement award 2010he has held a number of commercial positions includingdirector edinburgh fund managers plc 19801997chair glasgow development agency formerly glasgow action 19851992director clydesdale bank plc 198096 deputy chair 19931996director general accident fire life assurance corporation 19841996chair american trust plc 19841997chair united distillers uk plc 19871996 hon life president 1996chair guinness plc 198789 joint deputy chair 198992 he was the first scottish chairmanhonorary life president of diageodirector fine art society plc 197698he was lord high commissioner to the general assembly of the church of scotland in 1992 1993 and 1997he has also held a number of important positions in glasgow and scotlands arts and cultural communityvicechairman of the scottish balletdirector of the scottish national orchestrapresident of the royal glasgow institute of fine artsmember of the royal fine art commission for scotlanddirector of the third eye centrescottish patron of the national art collection fundgovernor of glasgow arts schoolhonorary life president the high school of glasgowchairman of kelvingrove refurbishment appealchairman culture and sport glasgowtrusteeship of the national galleries of scotland 198697trustee of the heritage lottery fund with bridget mcconnellpresident of the charles rennie mackintosh societypatron of queens park fcvicepresident of the professional golfers associationpatron scottish licensed trade assoc 1992hon life memb scottish football league 2006president royal glasgow inst of the fine arts 197687freeman of dumfries and galloway 2006 city of glasgow 2007member of glasgow art club since 1969 honorary degrees hon lld univ of strathclyde 1986univ of glasgow 1988glasgow caledonian univ 1993univ of aberdeen 1995hon duniv stirling 1992 dr hc univ of edinburgh 1992ccmi cimgt 1996hon rsa 1987hon rgi 1987hon frias 1984hon fscotvec 1991frse 1991hon frcpglas 1992