Michael Symington - Telegraph Michael Symington joined the family business when he was 22, and already found himself heir to a fine tradition. In 1882 his grandfather, Andrew James Symington, had travelled from Glasgow to Oporto, where he was taken on by Graham's, a business with wide interests in Portugal, among them port wine. After setting up on his own account, in 1894 he was entrusted by the Portuguese government with the orderly sale of 20,000 pipes (500-litre barrels) of port, the result of a failed speculation by the Burnay banking family which was threatening a collapse in the market. In 1947 he joined his father and uncles in the family business , but the outlook was inauspicious: during the war, sales had been negligible, and after it, port was out of fashion; many of the historic port companies were sold to British breweries. The Symingtons, however, persevered, and were rewarded when the market began to show signs of revival in the early 1960s. In the middle of the decade the Warre family decided to withdraw , leaving the Symingtons as owners of the Dow port company. By that point Michael Symington was in charge of the business alongside two of his cousins . In 1970 they bought Graham's, a revered name and the company which had brought their grandfather to Oporto nearly a century before. The revolution in Portugal in 1974 heralded a testing period for many businesses. Investment stagnated, and a number of bankers and entrepreneurs relocated to Brazil, Spain and other countries to await developments. Once again, the Symingtons decided to press on. They also offered local grape growers, many of whom suddenly found themselves without a buyer, the use of the family's main wine production centre to process their grapes, which otherwise might have been left on the vine. The Douro farmers never forgot, and customers overseas were grateful to have continuity of supply. After the revolution Michael Symington was part of a small group advising the British ambassador in Lisbon of the situation in Oporto. He was also on the board of the Port Producers" Association during its negotiations with the revolutionary government, most of whose members were intent on nationalising the port trade and all its vineyards. Symington and his Portuguese colleagues were able to demonstrate that this would destroy three centuries of history, and eventually the companies were allowed to continue as before. In 1988 Symington was appointed CBE for his contribution to Anglo-Portuguese relations during this period and for his work in the British community in Oporto. Two years later he retired to his own vineyard high in the hills overlooking the Pinhão valley. He married, in 1951, Elizabeth Stilwell, who came from a large Anglo-Portuguese family in Lisbon. She survives him with a daughter and three sons, of whom the eldest, Paul, and the youngest, Dominic, followed him into the family business. Paul is now chairman of the firm . Michael Symington, born May 13 1925, died January 25 2013