Having worked with someone for 22 years, it is difficult to sum up in a few short words what sort of engineer, colleague, person, and friend he was.  Many at work have spoken of Richard’s skill in programming and system design; his patience in helping and guiding other engineers, and his great breadth and depth of knowledge.  However, in reflecting on my work with Richard in managing several of his Projects, I have come to realise that there were two questions that I often asked, but were ultimately pointless questions.  They were “Richard, do you know about ….?” And “Richard, have you got time to….?”  These were pointless questions because the answer was always, Yes!!  He was always willing to help and he always knew the answer.

Now, in management circles, it is often said that no one person is irreplaceable and when Richard had his stroke this management maxim was put to the test.  A test it completely failed, simply put if that maxim were ever true, Richard’s stroke broke it.  Was it possible to sub in another engineer to cover for Richard?  No, it wasn’t.  Was it possible to sub in two engineers to cover Richard’s work and hold responsibility for Richard’s areas of expertise?  No, it wasn’t.  Well, surely you would think three engineers would suffice?  Well, no it wasn’t.  In the end, Richard’s project tasks and areas of expertise were given out to at least 5 or 6 engineers, and in some areas, that person was only able to paper over the cracks, whilst they frantically learned as much as they possibly could.  In end, after a year of trying in one particular area of a system, we did find a junior engineer able to learn about it.  Of course, that was only possible with the help of his teacher, one Richard Edwin on his return to work.


I will finish my story of working with Richard by briefly mentioning one area of his work that is not often talked about.  That is his impact in the real world and one project in particular that stood out.  The ask, from Her Majesty’s Government, was straightforward, can you clever people ‘simply’ come up with some research that could eventually lead to a product that would prevent certain attacks on British forces?  These attacks were killing, wounding, and maiming both British personnel and the local population.  


Well, think caps were put on and several ideas suggested, one of which was Richard’s, and this was taken up as an idea worth further research.  The result of the further research was not just a research paper but to the customer’s surprise a working demonstrator too.  This working prototype was taken to the field and proved to work in practice.  On reporting back, the customer couldn’t wipe the smile off his face when he spoke of the field demonstration to his American counterparts.  They were amazed that the British, with their tiny research budget, had developed such a small and effective device.  They imagined such an amazing device must have had a huge team of scientists and engineers to develop it.  They never knew the ‘huge team’ was one engineer plus one Richard Edwin.  Richard’s work in general helped make the world a safer and more secure place, but this particular project directly saved lives from both death and handicap.

Finally, what will I miss about Richard? Well, his cheerful presence in the office, sitting with him at lunch discussing all sorts, doing a lap of the buildings after lunch, yes all of that, but mostly having around such a nice, decent, and a thoroughly good person at work.