In memory of Tim York
The other weekend the world lost a great guy, someone so nice that you struggle to find anything bad to say about him at all. Tim was only 27 but died tragically on the weekend, to the complete shock of everyone that knew him. I don’t think anyone really knew what to feel at that point, and even now it is still really hard to take it.
Tim was very well known in the GIS space here in Australia, and extremely well respected by everyone that knew him. I attended Locate15, where I was going catch up for a beer and chat with him, and almost everyone I talked to knew who he was and how great he really was. I would not doubt at all he could have become CEO or leader at a large company, no doubt at all.
It was mentioned at the funeral that we should try to think of how Tim made our lives better. For that I can fully thank Tim for my job at DMS. It was at a SSSI event after talking with my now manager about if they would like me at DMS that I had caught up with Tim and he encouraged me to move into the private sector. For that I thank him a lot.
I have started to read “How To Win Friends & Influence People” by Dale Carnegie, because one can always do with more skills in life, and some important points from the book:
- Become genuinely interested in other people.
- Smile.
- Remember a person’s name.
- Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
- Talk in terms of the other person’s interests
This. All of this is what Tim did. This is the reason it always felt great to talk to him and be around him, even when I only saw him a few times.
I don’t know if Tim’s life was better for knowing me, given his large group of friends and great partner I suspect not, but I know sure as shit that mine was better for having known him.
Filed under: personal
