My brother, David Dunstan, who has died aged 77, was an architect, community fundraiser, yachtsman and prolific watercolourist.
Born in Birmingham and educated at Solihull school, in the West Midlands, he trained at the Birmingham School of Art in the 1950s before embarking on an architectural career that frequently took him abroad for long periods, principally to the Middle East and the far east.
David belonged to a school of young professionals who began working overseas as British colonial influence was diminishing. His first overseas assignment was a hospital design in Malacca, Malaysia. The experience provided the expertise and diplomatic skills necessary for him to be regarded as a first choice for other tropical and desert projects.
His ability to negotiate and deal with clients at the highest levels meant that David was a trusted ambassador. He took charge of the design and construction of the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces main army base, as well as a new desert town in the Ruwi Valley, additionally managing the transformation of a traditional Omani house into a residence for the British Council.
He was a consultant architect overseeing a polo club, the brainchild of the Sultan of Brunei, and he designed a medical centre in Dubai and a women's hospital in Qatar. In Yerevan, Armenia, he achieved five-star luxury converting the old Soviet-built Armenian hotel.
His skills were not confined overseas. He was the architect for Swaleside Prison, on the Isle of Sheppey, and managed the £80m repair and modernisation of Strangeways Prison, in Manchester, after it was badly damaged by rioting prisoners in 1990.
In retirement, David moved to Auchencairn, a coastal village in Dumfries and Galloway, where he co-founded the Auchencairn Initiative to raise funds for capital projects. His talent for soft-spoken but steely diplomacy was put to good use when he raised the lion's share of £450,000 for a village shop and post office, opened in 2008 by Princess Anne.
He still had time to indulge two passions nurtured since boyhood: as a watercolour artist, turning out countless paintings, and as a highly competent yachtsman, sailing his 26ft cruiser from Kippford on the Solway Estuary.
David is survived by his children, Anna and Tom, from his marriage to Diana, which ended in divorce; and by his grandson, Sam.