Grass Roots mourns former MD
9 June 2008
The funeral of Rik Burrage took place in Berkhamsted on June 6. David Evans pays tribute to his colleague and friend who recently lost his battle against cancer.
They say that good fortune is created from opportunity meeting preparedness. My good fortune was meeting Rik in 1986 and he loved to tell the story. A meeting of senior Kodak management was being addressed by me, a colleague of Rik’s leaned closer to him and said “I don’t know what the hell he is talking about but we really need some of it.”
That was the start of a 22 year love affair of the essence of Grass Roots. I was able to persuade Rik and his young family to take a chance on Grass Roots and to start Rik’s distinguished career with our company.
This career may have mirrored that of the successful naval officer he may well have been. Every promotion, every command he took, Lieutenant to Commander, Captain to Vice Admiral then to Admiral of the Tring Fleet. But that is mere boiler plate history.
The essence of the man lay in his combination of qualities: steadfast, honest, passionate, a man of the highest integrity and endearingly stubborn.
Most of us depart this earthly life with our DNA passed only through our children. For some there are other indelible legacies. We, the Grass Roots family, benefit from Rik’s corporate DNA in our daily lives, an imprint which is being spread around the globe. This we can treasure as our memory of the man.
Shakespeare wrote that “the greatest treasure mortal times afford is a spotless reputation”.
For our beloved friend and colleague – that and much more.
I think of him daily.