Euan MacDonald MBE, ground-breaking social philanthropist and entrepreneur

As the driving force behind the idea of Euan's Guide, Euan has been a central part of our journey from an idea to a thriving, independent charity that helps hundreds of thousands of disabled people and their families, friends and carers each year. Euan was an inspiration to many, leading the way as an altruistic and selfless philanthropist and social entrepreneur.

The Euan’s Guide team are heartbroken that our co-founder, friend and inspiration has finally lost his long, long fight against Motor Neuron Disease (MND). But we are determined to continue to build his vision even though he has gone. Euan achieved many great things during his life, despite the many challenges that he faced. We can think of no better legacy for or tribute to him than continuing to grow Euan’s Guide in order to help improve the lives of disabled people and their friends, families and carers everywhere.

The idea for Euan's Guide stemmed from Euan’s frustration at the lack of accurate information about disabled access that he experienced as a powerchair user. Not knowing whether you could access a venue, use an accessible toilet or find an accessible hotel room meant that without Euan’s Guide millions of disabled people would be unable to quickly, reliably and easily plan trips, experiences and events. He wanted to create a resource that would give disabled people the freedom to live their lives to the full as he did without worrying about poor disabled access. Over the last decade Euan has helped to build a service that delivers on that promise; a service that has helped make life a little bit easier, more fun and less stressful for hundreds of thousands of people across the UK and beyond. We are committed to continuing to develop and grow that service in his memory so that Euan’s Guide can help many millions more.

Outside of Euan’s Guide, Euan was instrumental in pioneering MND research. He founded the Euan MacDonald Centre for Motor Neuron Disease Research based at the University of Edinburgh in 2007, a not-for-profit, internationally recognised network of 200 scientists and professionals researching MND. The Euan MacDonald Centre runs the MND-SMART trial which now has over 750 participants.

Euan also launched SpeakUnique in 2012, a service that creates personalised synthetic voices for individuals who have lost or will lose the ability to speak, to prolong independence and dignity.

We offer our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.