It is with much sadness and sorrow that we learnt of the passing of our colleague and dear friend Dave Rayburn last week. Dave had been successfully battling Illness until very recently, so this came as a shock to us all. We are so sad for Roula and his family who have lost a great man in their lives.
Dave was a friend, colleague, mentor to many of us and excellent company. I will miss him phoning up for a chat with the opening ‘how’s it going old chap’. We saw Dave a month or so ago when we were running a client workshop and three of us met up for a chat, beer and a meal. We chatted about everything and anything and generally ‘set the world to rights’ in these crazy times. A fond memory. He was just fun to be with.
Dave leaves a huge legacy in Oil and Gas as founder of Genesis, his work with Technip and Xodus and more recently as part of the Stepchange Global Team focussing on new radically unmanned project concepts and was at the forefront of this emerging trend in Oil and Gas. To many he was one of the ‘Fathers of Oil and Gas’ in the UK. Dave was an excellent engineer, technical and business gravitas and had a huge influence on the Oil and Gas Sector in the UK and abroad. Dave was famous for explaining every complex problem with a Venn diagram! The Venn Diagram of his life would include family, music, Greece, cars and his work. He was passionate about all these and more.
He played guitar in a band and was a big fan of Pink Floyd. He was famous for not smiling whilst playing as he was concentrating hard. He was a car fan and talked a lot about is Mark III Ford Cortina in Paros and the Aston he had once owned. He was most passionate about Roula and his family and once told me that the greatest day of his life was taking his daughter down the aisle to be married at their house (‘pad’ as he called it) in Paros.
Dave was always happy and optimistic and forward looking, both in work and in his social interactions and we will miss him greatly.
Our hearts go out to Roula and the family who have lost a lovely man too soon. Roula is taking Dave back to Paros for a family ceremony which is fitting as this a place he loved so much. There will be a service to remember Dave on the 24th September. I will post details once they are available.
