About The John Mather Trust


The John Mather Trust

John Mather spent his whole working life with Clydeport; going from apprenticeship to business visionary who changed the face of UK shipping trade.

Having achieved success, John used the money he accumulated to establish a fund to help other young people in the West of Scotland get a foot on their chosen career ladder.

The John Mather Charitable Trust was established after his death in 2001 and it continues to support college apprenticeships, as well as individuals with the ambition and talent to become technicians, engineers, business leaders, scientists, musicians and artists.

John Mather (1936 – 2001)

John was born up in Bearsden in the North of Glasgow not long before the onset of WW2.  He attended the local secondary and like most boys in his class, took up an apprenticeship in his teens.

It was the era of a job for life so when John accepted his first job, as ‘office boy’ in the accounts department of the Clyde Navigational Trust, (later becoming Clydeport) he would never work anywhere else. He finally retired in the late 1990s, after 40 years’ service.

In between however, John’s career hit many heights, including becoming Managing Director of Clydeport and the globetrotting President of the International Association of Ports and Harbours. He was also an architect and beneficiary of Ports privatization in 1992.

A significant proportion of John’s personal estate was bequeathed to the Trust when he passed away in 2001, aged 65.

Board of Trustees