Sad news on the passing of Terry Disher in Melbourne on 25 May 2021, aged 78.
Qualified for the IBM QCC on 3 October 1991.
33 years at IBM, retired Dec 1999, retired up onto Lake Eildon for many wonderful years.
Went back to IBM for consultancy twice in the following years.
He is survived by his wife, Anne, children: Shauna, Heath, Trent, grandchildren: Deni, Kale, Dakoda, Beauie, Zanek, Kushla, Keeley, great grandchildren: Hudson, Cooper, 2 more to come.
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So sad to hear of Terry’s passing – my condolences to his family.
This is a moment of sadness for many of us.
I have always held up Terry as the ultimate IBM sales person … not only because of his sales skills (great as they were), rather for his dedication and strength of commitment to achieving a good outcome for IBM and for the client.
This crystallised for me when we working with Terry on the sales effort to win over NAB from their Wang systems to IBM’s OfficeVision; one of its major milestones was a key demonstration in the Executive Briefing Centre on the ground floor of Sturt Street.
There were many SEs working on the “proof of capability” demonstration as it was a groundbreaking integration of the DPD, GSD, and OPD heritage systems. These included Earl Rodd and Gary Trytell.
I do not particularly recall if we worked through that the weekend although I do recall a separate anecdote about Earl Rodd’s capabilities and his humility.
What I do recall is that Terry went skiing that weekend, and came back with a broken collar bone (and maybe other injuries) … however before going to hospital and doing other sensible things, Terry front up at Sturt Street.
He greeted the client, anchored the demonstration, made the pitch, and carried the day.
Then mission accomplished he felt he was able to go to the hospital and home …
Thank you Terry for all you did for our clients, our teams, and IBM over so many years – including last July volunteering to take on the role of Secretary to this Chapter of IBM’s QCC.
We shall miss you.
Thanks Ed for that wonderful story on the NAB Account.
Terry was the consummate gentlemen & never seemed fazed with work deadlines & challenges. Very sad news of his passing indeed. Regards to all, Bruce.