Joe Handy obituary

My husband, Joe Handy, who has died aged 71 of cancer, was a teacher and Labour party activist. Elected to Dundee district council in 1988 and serving until 1996, he was cultural services convener during the city's octocentenary in 1991, and entered into the celebrations with gusto. Later he used his IT skills to act as a webmaster and researcher for Marlyn Glen MSP, and performed a similar task for two Highlands and Islands MSPs, Rhoda Grant and David Stewart.

He was born in Dundee to Joe, a labourer, and Margaret (nee McKay), a housewife, and educated at Lawside academy in the city. After graduating with a degree in chemistry from Dundee University in 1971, he embarked on two years of educational research at Glasgow University, and it was while he was in Glasgow that we married in 1972. An enthusiastic filmgoer at the time, Joe enjoyed being film critic of the student newspaper, the Glasgow Guardian, under the editorship of Robin McKie, who later went on to write for the Observer.

On returning to Dundee in 1974, Joe taught chemistry at Kirkton high school for 10 years and Harris academy for a further 21, before retiring in 2005.