Mark Baines (1952-2020)

The Society received the terrible new that our friend and Chair, Mark Baines, sadly passed away on Tuesday 7th April. Mark made a vital contribution to the cultural life of Glasgow through his architecture, exhibitions, and teaching. We will miss him dearly.

Below is the text from a letter sent to our members from Sally White, secretary of the Alexander Thomson Society.

Dear Member, 

I trust that you are well and coping with the current coronavirus situation, which is affecting so many lives. 

It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that our friend and Chair, Mark Baines, passed away in the morning of 7th April after he was diagnosed with cancer at the end of February. I am sure that those of you who attended the AGM in early February would have been aware of how unwell he was, but he was absolutely determined to attend. 

Likewise he continued working as Stage 5 leader at the Mackintosh School of Architecture until his doctor convinced him to stop, but I can assure you that he took a lot of convincing. Following his diagnosis he remained at home and was well cared for by family and a fantastic team of nurses. We were still discussing Thomson, the Society and other ideas whenever I visited. He cared passionately about the Society and teaching architecture. I would like to share part of a lovely email from Professor Dean Hawkes from the University of Cambridge, who has given several talks in our lecture series. “ I have the highest regard for Mark’s contribution at the Mack for all these years. I have seen his quiet and profound influence on generations of students. One of the best teachers I have had the privilege to work with.” 

Some of you may know that Mark was a founding member of the Alexander Thomson Society in 1991, and seven years before that had organised and curated the 1984 Thomson exhibition in Grecian Chambers in Sauchiehall Street when it was known as the Third Eye Centre. He has been a committee member and a board members for almost thirty years. 

He became Chair of the Society in December 2013 and relished all aspects of what that entailed. Under his chairmanship the Society has developed, with the help of all board members, an expanding programme of events and activities following on from the highly successful Thomson Bicentennial Year of 2017, of which he was immensely proud. 

It is very poignant that I am writing to you on the 9th April, the anniversary of Thomson’s birth. 

It is the Board’s intention that the Society will in the future hold a special event to celebrate Mark’s evolving role as a champion of Thomson during the last forty years and as a tremendous ATS Chair for the last six or seven years. 

The board members are not holding meetings at present but when we resume and discuss ideas for this special event we will let you know. 

Yours sincerely 

Sally White,

Director and Secretary