Thursday, July 20, 2023
Along with so many others, I loved Fred. He will truly be missed.
I worked with him closely at Cable for 18 years from 1982 to 2000 as his VP Operations. Even after I left Cable, he sent me emails pretty much every day (sometimes several in a single day) for the next 19 years until 2019 . . . humour, thoughts and after-thoughts for enjoying and improving the quality of life. Who does that to a previous employee? Fred, that’s who. If he missed even 3 days of emails, I‘d get worried.
You hear this often . . . But, Fred really was a class guy! AND, truly a gentleman. He lived by a personal code, based on values, trust and ethics. I trusted him implicitly. I just wanted to follow him wherever he led the company. What a quality human being.
Example. My job interview with Fred. He had a recruiter track me down plus a few others. I had just decided to leave Xerox when my wife contracted Multiple Sclerosis - because I didn’t want to be away from home and regularly travelling on business anymore. As the interview went on, I remember one key question Fred asked was, how important my family was to me. I told him about my wife’s MS and said “My family is and always will be #1 and while I will be totally dedicated to my work, work will always come after my family”. I thought I had just ‘failed’ my interview - being too honest, too direct. Fred leaned back in his chair for a few moments, then offered me the job. Fred IS the reason I spent 18 years at Cable.
Over the years, we built the company, went fishing together, Rotary, Ducks Unlimited, national conventions, banquets, special projects like the Cable/Great West Golf Tournament, and to their cottage at Wee Too. Syl (my wife) and I got to know Anita and the magic that Fred and Anita had together. Totally committed. Always respectful of each other. Their love and kindness emanated for all to enjoy.
Morality and virtue. I never felt that he let those tenets slip – ever. How could you not want to be around that kind of a person for as long as possible? My privilege for some 40+ years. I feel blessed to have shared in some part of his life.
Farewell my best boss and friend.
Sylvia & Roger Weldon
