Terry Baker, RIP
This post was written by David Madden
It was only last night that I heard that Terry Baker, formerly of the ESRI, had died on January 3rd (see http://www.esri.ie/irish_economy/quarterly_economic_commen/ ). Readers of an older vintage will recall his role as chief contributor and editor of the Quarterly Economic Commentary in the 1980s. I worked as a Research Assistant with Terry on a number of these and his modus operandi was to take my numbers, tables and clumsy sentences and magically transform them into the most elegant prose. A pretty mean table tennis player too, if I remember. RIP.
January 14th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Had not heard of Terry’s passing either. He cared about what he wrote, and how he wrote it, my sympathies to his family and friends.
January 14th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Remember Terry as an honest and up front commentater with the Institute. Sorry to hear of his passing.
January 14th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Terry was also a maestro of the Management Game, a computer-based contest between teams of people managing imaginary companies, sponsored I think by ICL, and played with deadly seriousness by a select band of enthusiasts back in the 1970s and 1980s. I remember Terry led the ESRI team to victory, not only in the Irish, but also in the European competition in 1982. In fact, Terry was the team; the rest of us were there mostly as ballast. Anyway, there are a few pieces in my thinly populated trophy cabinet that are down to Terry’s keen strategic mind and will always remind me of him. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
January 17th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
I would like to join in the tributes to Terry - whose death I learned about too late to attend the funeral.
He was a good friend and colleague to me when I returned to Ireland and the ESRI in 1969.
His quarterly commentaries always displayed level-headed common sense and sound policy advice. I marveled how he would leave them aside until the deadline was almost upon him and then at the speed with which he would complete them.
When I last talked with him - at an ESRI event last October - he was in good form and seemed to be in good health.
My sympathy to his daughters and their families.
January 19th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
As a former RA for Terry, I would like to join with these tributes, and to extend my sympathy to his family.