In Memory of Two Very Good Friends

This Tuesday, 9 August 2022 marks a sad 10th anniversary, the date on which in 2012 my very good friend and lifelong mentor Marcus Ringrose left us suddenly and unexpectedly, after a massive heart attack the night after he had delivered the most extraordinary tribute to his late wife Mary in the eulogy he delivered at her funeral.

Since then, my personal mission has been to deliver and secure his professional legacy.

As I wrote a couple of years ago, he “was also a good friend and supporter to the rest of our team, and over his career had offered sage advice to many youngsters at the start of their careers?some of whom are now extremely influential market figures”.?Since inheriting his job ten years ago, that is something that I have tried to do, all the more so since an occasion a couple of years ago when I was discussing his legacy with the then cohort on our Adjuster Development Plan, and one of the group commented, “George, it’s your legacy now”.?

It’s a moment that stopped me in my tracks, and in terms of the stages of grief is probably the moment I finally got to Acceptance – but with a new mission: “Pay It Forward”.?And it’s that sharing of knowledge and (I hope) wisdom that has inspired me since then.

So it came as a massive shock last May to hear that Nick Kilhams, another inspirational figure, had taken his own life.?Nick was another larger than life character – but in the words of one of the first condolence emails to reach me after Marcus died, Nick was also a “gruff gentleman whose integrity no-one would doubt”.?His sense of humour and hearty chuckle enlivened many an otherwise excruciating meeting, along with his insightful interventions on the matter in hand.?Nick’s family has set up a mental health support charity, the Nick Kilhams Foundation, which provides mental health support for the insurance industry (https://kilhams.foundation/ ).?The “Donate” page on the web site wasn’t yet up and running at the time I wrote this, but if you were minded to give (and *please* do), the JustGiving site for Nick Robinson’s awesome four marathons in four days from Cape Wrath to John O’Groats is still very much open (https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/nicholas-robinson49 ).

When I wrote a couple of years ago, I finished with a YouTube link to the “Playing for Change” version of Guantanamera.?I think if you knew either, you’ll agree that they both changed a lot of lives, and left a lot of ripples behind them.?So I’ll finish this piece with a link to the Playing for Change team’s version of the Grateful Dead’s classic, “Ripple”.?And I’ll ask that, on Tuesday evening, if you knew Marcus or Nick (or even if you didn’t), you’ll raise a glass to their memory.

To conclude.?I started by saying that I have spent the last ten years attempting to deliver Marcus’s professional legacy.?I hope I haven’t let him down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHo1fNnXFVU