Bill Hardie of 4 Braxfield Row died in hospital on Friday the 22nd January 2021.
Bill and Gillian Hardy came to New Lanark in 1979. They had probably lived in New Lanark longer than anyone currently resident.
Bill and his four brothers grew up in the west of Scotland. He became Deputy Director of Dundee Art Gallery. In 1977 he moved to become a director of Christies in Glasgow and set up their Scottish Picture Department.
He was an acknowledged expert on Scottish art and published 'Scottish Painting: 1837 to the Present' in 1994 [second edition 2010] and 'Glasgow Boys in Your Pocket' in 2010. In 1984 he started his own art gallery in Glasgow and organised many exhibitions.
Bill travelled extensively to promote Scottish art and claimed to have spent more than a year in Japan over the course of over 40 visits. He was well known in the national and international art world. In 2017 he published his autobiography; 'Gallery: A Life in Art'.
Bill and Gillie had two children. Andrew lives in Bristol and works as a teacher. Marion has lived in the village for several years with her daughter Evie and works as a nurse.