What to say about Gareth? How do you capture the essence of someone like him in words? I’ll try but I’m sure I’ll fall short.
I worked with Gareth at London Business School around twenty years ago, but the memory of him has always lingered. When I first joined the school, Gareth was Programme Director for the Accelerated Development Programme. My office mate was the programme manager so Gareth often popped in an out. But I didn’t really get to know him until after he moved to Polygram a few months later. I was manager to his director when he brought lots of creative and interesting people into the school for a programme. After that Gareth was guest professor on several programmes I managed – you could hear gales of laughter from the participants attending his sessions, and he always got the best feedback! Gareth could be a complete nightmare to work with though!! You could never track him down! BUT you always forgave him. He was so kind and warm. And he’d always buy you a drink in the Windsor Castle to make up for his lack of attention to the finer details of programme organisation! It was crystal clear to me that what interested Gareth was people – he just loved engaging with everyone, it was his joy and he was magnificent at it. Every one of us who fell under Gareth’s gaze and attention was incredibly lucky. He gave me so much advice about what I should be doing with my life - how wonderful that someone could be so interested in making sure I achieved my potential.
When I moved to Brighton years later I bumped into Gareth in The Lanes. He remembered me straightaway, and left me with the feeling that he was delighted to have encountered me again, how lovely is that. I caught up with him a couple of times after that, once at a friend’s birthday party and then God knows where, but I know we all ended up in a pub in Hove!
One of the last times I saw Gareth was on a train coming back from London at Christmas time a couple of years ago. I’d actually been for lunch with some ex-LBS colleagues and was so surprised to see Gareth making his way through the train on his way to the loo. Business taken care of, he came back to chat. We gossiped about people from LBS and how things were going for Gareth, and then of course attention was turned to me to find out what I was doing with my life. Nothing had changed, he was still the same interested, supportive and motivating person, and he made me feel so confident, telling me I could do much better than what I was doing with my working life. Robbie eventually came to look for him we’d been chatting for so long! I went into work the next day and I remember telling one of my colleagues that I’d met Gareth, and about how great it had been to be around someone so intelligent and inspiring again. I last bumped into Gareth on the footbridge at Hove Station - he was on his way to London to watch football of course.
It is clear from all the tributes that have been paid to Gareth that he had a massive impact on everyone he encountered, and it was no different for me. I will always be so grateful for the time and interest he took in me as a person. What a great gift he had for making people feel special. Gareth, I’m so very sad that I won’t bump into you again. And I’m really sad too for all the people who won’t get to meet him and experience the greatness of this fabulous man. God bless you Gareth. We are all the better for knowing you.
Nicky (Gamble) x