#Remember John Porter - I will always

John Porter passed away this past Wednesday 10 November after a 5 year battle with cancer.??I remember driving him to Hampshire in 2015 where he was one of my speakers for the FTE that year, and he kept falling asleep, and coughing.??He said he had bronchitis (for the third time), and I said, it can’t be.??My dad is a lung doctor, and I knew it was something else.???I kept encouraging him to go to a doctor.??We watched Trump become President of the US the night of the election and when I walked him back to his flat, he was coughing fluorescent green out of his mouth.?He got up for the 7 am at the Carlton Club though the next day, and we just couldn’t believe it when it became obvious that Trump was in.??

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He was very receptive to a specific cancer treatment – alternative – in 2018 or so, and he seemed to get better in 2019.??We all hoped it was in remission.

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We were great friends, and he was incredibly protective, supportive and empowering of me and of VIVA Investment Partners.?The words he said to me earlier this year which I will never ever forget are:?‘I’m incredibly impressed with how you have protected VIP’s assets.’?I am most proud of this compliment.???I’m lucky to have worked so closely with him for 5 years.??He’s one of the most impressive individuals I’ve ever met.??He invested nearly $20 m into VIP investments in 9 months this year.??He called me the Friday before the FTE Mykonos was kicking off at 1 am (which although unusual was not the first time) and was in great spirits, we talked for an hour, and he sounded like Superman.?Turns out he was on steroids.?He said for me to buy his ticket, he was coming down to Mykonos the next day.??I did, and then couldn’t reach him for two days until I was told by his partner that he was in hospital.?All through October he got worse, and I spoke to him two weeks ago where he said that he was happy to hear from me, and was with someone, and could I call him back.?That was the last time I spoke to him.???

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I have never in my life prayed so hard that someone would be healed.

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I first met John at a Citibank Private Banking dinner where I was the speaker.??Half way through my presentation, with 25 people in the room, John and I were having a private conversation arguing pleasantly about my investment strategy at the time, ‘Ecosystem Economics’.??He invited me to meet him in Verbier, and he ultimately joined the Board of my previous firm in Malta along with Mark Schneider, another one of VIP’s shareholders.???John always added value.??He literally had a brilliant mind.??I was so excited to work with him.??

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He was a big believer in what I am doing with VIP in Greece, and was in the process of buying in Kea next to me.?We have one very large project there.??We have projects both personal and professional which I will keep going.?Some of them we will do in his memory and honour.???He said his mother had a knack for knowing what would work.??I think he definitely inherited that knack.

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I definitely became a better person and business person through him.??Here was a person who despite hundreds of investments and people that he had business relationships with found the time to check in, or to do things for the arts and culture, or to ask for an update.??The ability to manage things was breath-taking.?He would ask how my boyfriend was doing or how my doctor’s appointment had gone.??Amazing memory for his friends.?Incredible sense of humor and camaraderie.

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I am pleased that John was so impressed with the people that I have chosen to work with at VIP.???He had met them on many occasions personally and took an interest in how the investment and management team was developing.??I’m pleased that we have been able to make this a management-led firm with key executives being incentivised now to grow the firm’s value for all shareholders.

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Some of my favourite photos of John and myself are attached.???It was literally this week last year when I invited John to come to Athens to talk and I would cook for him, and he and I talked about the future of VIP and he promised to support me and to help make VIP successful.