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A last official link between the Gulf’s colonial era and its commercially dynamic present, Bill Duff devoted his life to Dubai and played a bigger part than any other westerner in the early transformation of the emirate from obscure outpost into global hub.
Duff, who has died aged 91, arrived as an economic adviser in 1959 in what were called the Trucial states. His mission came at the behest of the UK, which was seeking to boost social development among its Gulf protectorates as communist and nationalist agitation grew.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan al-Nahyan, ruler of richer neighbour Abu Dhabi, vacillated – only for Dubai’s Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed al-Maktoum to hire the self-effacing Scot, with whom he instantly hit it off. That lasting partnership with the wily Bedouin leader laid the financial foundations of modern Dubai. Duff built the accounts and customs departments of the ruler’s office, taking signatory powers together with Sheikh Rashid."
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