"We have today to record the death, at St. Andrews, under peculiarly melancholy circumstances, of the venerable second minister of the Established Church there, the Reverend George Buist, D.D., at the advanced age of eighty-four [sic] years... Dr. Buist was one of the oldest ordained ministers of the Church of Scotland... held the rank of Moderator of the Assembly of the Church. He was an attentive minister, sincere in the performance of his duties, a thorough business man and his loss will be greatly felt..." Thus ran the front page of the Dundee Advertiser Newspaper of Friday, 20 April 1860 giving a small glimpse of the accomplished life of the Very Reverend Dr. George Buist. Newspapers across Scotland published his obituary and his funeral which was largely attended was equally covered as well. The Reverend Dr. George Buist of St. Andrews was born at the farm of Orkie in Kettle Parish, the fourth child of George Buist (1750-1797), a tenant farmer and proprietor, and Margaret Low (1752-1781). He attended the United College from 1794-97 studying Latin and Greek and made rapid progress in his various studies. In his father's Trust and Disposition of 1796, George received 600 pounds sterling plus 10 pounds sterling a year while at college for defraying the expense of completing his college education. As a youth and well into old age, George Buist was universally regarded with affection for a quality of an unassuming kindness of disposition and temper, which made it impossible for him to initiate or to be irritated. He was ordained to his first charge as minister of Falkland in September of 1802 where he was esteemed as a preacher and was indefatigable in the discharge of his parochial duties. Thence he translated in 1809 but was not admitted until 1813 to the second charge of St. Andrews city and parish in which he laboured for the next 47 years. A year later the University of St. Andrews conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity on the Reverend Buist. In 1817 he was appointed by the Crown, Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages at St. Mary's College, and in 1823 was promoted from the Hebrew Chair to that of Ecclesiastical History which he held this post until his death. Buist was present on Thursday, 18 May 1843 when 121 ministers and 73 elders led by Dr. David Welsh left the Church of Scotland General Assembly at the Church of St. Andrew in Edinburgh and subsequently formed the Free Church of Scotland which was known as "The Disruption of 1843." Five years later Dr. Buist was raised to the highest honour in which the Established Church of Scotland could bestow, unanimously electing him Moderator of the General Assembly. When Reverend Buist was 26 years old he married Margaret Fernie, the daughter of William Fernie, Esq., of Tillywhandland, Angus. They had seven children and by 1818 resided at Lawpark near St. Andrews. Most of his children and wife would pre-decease him with the exception of his daughter Jean (Jane) Buist. His wide knowledge and inquiring mind led him to become one of the original founding members of the Literary and Philosophical Society of St. Andrews and further was largely responsible for establishing the University museum. Buist, as a further testament to his academic stature, was accorded the honour of writing the New Statistical Account entry for the Parish of St. Andrews (1837-38). In 1857 he authored one publication entitled Expository Lectures on Chaps XV.-XIX. of the Acts of the Apostles, which he privately gave to many of his parishioners as a memorial for his ministry. This then is the narrative of the life and times of the Reverend Dr. George Buist.