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.
5 replies on “Terry Baker, RIP”
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.
Remember Terry as an honest and up front commentater with the Institute. Sorry to hear of his passing.
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.
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.
As a former RA for Terry, I would like to join with these tributes, and to extend my sympathy to his family.