Death of Kirkcaldy businessman Kenneth Kelly

Kirkcaldy businessman Kenneth S. Kelly passed away peacefully at home recently.
Kirkcaldy businessman Kenneth Kelly passed away peacefully at home on Sunday, March 24.Kirkcaldy businessman Kenneth Kelly passed away peacefully at home on Sunday, March 24.
Kirkcaldy businessman Kenneth Kelly passed away peacefully at home on Sunday, March 24.

He died on Sunday, March 24, aged 87.

Kenneth was born in 1932 in Dunfermline but moved to Kirkcaldy at an early age.

He attended the High Primary, where he was Dux, and then graduated to Kirkcaldy High School.

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On joining the Merchant Navy he travelled to the Far East for oil company Shell, gaining his Masters Ticket in 1959.

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He set up Bulk Grain Transport, delivering bulk cereals and malt from Robert Kilgour Maltsters in Kirkcaldy to distilleries all over Scotland. It would later become KSK Freight Ltd.

Kenneth was also a founder and director of Fife Warehousing Company Ltd, now Fife Group Ltd at Mitchelston Industrial Estate, where he worked all his business life.

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He also founded the former Fife Transport Training Centre in Kirkcaldy which offered forklift and first aid training.

Kenneth worked tirelessly for various charities. He was chairman of both RNLI Kirkcaldy – he was a gold badge recipient – and Age Concern Kirkcaldy for many years, where he organised the drop-in centre on a Thursday, and helped on the rota of bakers. He also organised the annual bowling tournament and bus trips.

He was a long-standing member of 57 years of Kirkcaldy Rotary Club, including as a past president, Paul Harris Fellow and Sapphire Recipient.

Away from business, his all-consuming passion was yacht racing.

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He competed in the Rolex Commodores Cup at Cowes, and could be found every Sunday racing on the Firth of Forth.

He was commended in 1983 by the Royal Humane Society for rescuing a woman from a capsized yacht.

He is survived by his wife Elizabeth – they married in 1960 – daughters Gillian and Jane and grandchildren Hannah and Matthew.

The funeral takes place at Pathhead Parish Church this Friday at noon.