Remembering a friend and mentor

I just found out this week that an old friend and colleague has passed on. John Charles Pumphrey but we all called him Chuck. I met Chuck when I moved to Chicago in 1982. A great friend to have in a new city where no one knows your name. In 1985 I joined the Disney Channel and had the great fortune of working with Chuck for 8 years. He always told me that working for "The Mouse" would be filled with a lot of great memories and laughs. As always Chuck was right! As I sit hear writing this I am flooded with memories, laughs and tears. Chuck was a tremendous sales person and strategist. I learned one of the most important skills from Chuck which was listening carefully to what the client was saying. He taught me to understand both the business and personal wins of why people buy from you. I am just one person of many that were touched by Chuck in their cable careers. He was smart, funny, frugal , and unique. He never forgot his brother who he lost to Cancer many years ago. During my tenure at Motorola my boss Pete Wronski had a  golf outing every summer to raise money for the American Cancer Society.  This golf tournament was to raise money for cancer. I called on Chuck one time to see if he had anything he wanted to donate for our fund raiser. In typical Chuck style he sent me a replica putter from Arnold Palmer that Arnold used to win 35 tournaments on the PGA. Someone at our fund raiser bought the putter for $3500 dollars. When I told Chuck what the putter sold for he was truly pleased.

I told my daughter Caitlyn if you are ever lucky enough to have a friend like Chuck than you are truly blessed. I will never ever forget Chuck...