To begin with allow me to thank Hans for creating this tribute page for Paul. And thank you also to John, David and Bob for their moving contributions.
I have been through a couple of difficult weeks since this fateful 25th April. The idea of writing down some memories seemed an almost impossible task. But I guess as part of the process of working through this loss I might give it a trial.
As so many people have said over the last 3 weeks, Paul was one of the most generous, selfless and giving people we have ever had the fortune to be friend with.
There is a stereotypical description of Australians around, which says Australians are “eager to please”. This might sometimes be interpreted as belittling or as an expression of lack of confidence.
In the case of Paul Smith this was the essence of a great and very honest personality and friend. He was the personified selflessness, in the best and most admirable humanist sense.
Being kind and helpful towards every living being – and that includes humans as well as all fauna and flora - came very natural to Paul. There was never the element of ‘self’ involved.
Paul was also a ‘sponge’ for knowledge. He was able to absorb and process facts and intellectual concepts at a speed and comprehensiveness which often baffled me.
Imagine sitting on the roof garden in 71 Australia Street in the evening and seeing a plane crossing over towards Kingsford Smith Airport. We normal human beings would mutter about the bloody noise. Paul would look at the plane and tell you that this is the new Boing so and so which just had a new type of engine fitted which reduced fuel consumption by X % and which was now used for all Boing planes built after XYZ.
Paul’s love and care for computers – and for that matter for anything technical – is legendary. As a consequence of that love, our little market research business – well and truly in the “small” category for this industry - must have been the one with the most working computers in the world.
One of his other great loves were Citroens. (the older the better) It is not for nothing that we called his beloved Citroen DS his mistress. (temperamental and expensive)
I remember vividly a trip which we did together with his partner Gary and our dear friend Ken. 4 weeks through some parts of Europe with Germany and Italy being the focus of our travel. And as you would expect, Paul took Italian lessons before the trip in order to be able to converse with the locals in Italy.
Since traffic in Europe happens on the ‘wrong side’ (which is right) I was by default the designated driver.
Also the brightest minds amongst us have their little weaknesses. Paul was always very keen to check the map and give directions as required. Problem was, that his grasp of “left” and “right” was at times a bit tenuous. Now can you imagine – somewhere in Luca (Tuscany) - having bellowed from the back of the car to you directions in Italian, like ….sinistro, sinistro (left, left)
Please imagine, a Teutoaustralian at the wheel with reasonable fluency in German and English being giving directions in that to me far less familiar Italian with the clear risk that sinistro should have been dextro. Hilarious I can tell you.
When I was still living in Australia street, just next to the office, we used to have, what became an almost classic institution, our Friday night dinner and drinks. The core group were four of us, Paul, Gary, Ken and I. And we would take turns in preparing meals.
For most of the year those Friday nights were held in the backyard –semi alfresco so to speak – and we would usually open the back door to Australia lane and any neighbour, so inclined, was invited to join us for some tomato salad and/or a glass of wine.
This very much reflected Paul’s great sense for neighbourhood and hospitality. I must say I remember those very many nights with great fondness, as do many of my overseas visitors who were quite naturally integrated in our group.
Some time around 1995 Paul had some hard time in his employment and needed a change. And I was more than happy to offer him the position of office manager and IT guru in my company (contrary to the Stars recollection, STATUS QUO existed before Paul joined me professionally)
I never had any doubt that Paul would be an important asset to my company and I owe him a large slab of gratitude for his immense loyalty and help which he gave me and my little company over the 15 years of tenure. I always knew what contribution he made. I now experience the loss even more.
Friends working in one business together is, as we know, not always a recipe for success. Paul and I had a wonderful professional relationship which crossed over very naturally into our private friendship of 26 years. There was never a problem with those two levels. All this has always been very informal – as you would expect – (and at times causing headaches for formalists like my accountants.)
We never had anything like a contract. We worked together for 15 years on the basis of a kiss and a hug. My company being small by design tends to have ups and downs which show themselves very obviously in cash flow. Where would you find an employer/employee relationship (and I use those expressions very loosely) where the employer rings his (only) employee and asks him “how are things with money?” and the employee responding “well at the moment I am fine, just don’t worry about salary payment” . It obviously also worked the other way around as one might expect in a friendship like ours.
As we all know, Paul had a very good grasp of all things technical and a love for putting scientific theories to the practical test. In the scientific world on this planet, I think Paul was the first who succeeded in putting Chaos Theory into practice. He found a practical application for it. And he managed to prove, that there is order in chaos. We other mere mortals might, at times, have had some difficulty in recognising this order (I know, I have) but who would argue against success.
There is a very special ‘club’ in gay Sydney, quite exclusive and – sadly – losing members who will never be replaced. The club came into being in April 1994. And it is called “the four merry widows”.
We were four good friends with something very special in common. The four of us – Michael, Don, Jochen, Paul – had all been lovers and partners at some stage in our lives with Gregg. (in the above order)
Gregg also died after suffering a severe heart attack. Given our stage in life in those days, in a somewhat more dramatic fashion, on the dance floor, during the black party in Newtown.
What never died or ended was and is the friendship amongst those four.
After Michael’s death on the 30th March 2007 and Paul now gone, our club has shrunk to half of its original membership. The club now looks at applications for associate membership with an open mind.
As most of you will know, I am not a believer in things like heaven, afterlife etc. If there were such place, I would imagine it to have four distinct sections.
The social club – a must for our social butterfly Michael –
The creative/dancing hall – where you would find Gregg quite often –
The tech club – where else would Paul get his hands dirty –
The cuisine du monde – where the three will meet regularly for culinary delights -
On that Friday night on the 1st of April 1994 when Gregg died and the four merry widows club was inaugurated, the music came from the Pet Shop Boys, and it was their song, “You were always on my mind”
Paul, Michael, Gregg, I take the liberty of modifying the title to “you are always on my mind”
....you are always on my mind....
Jochen Holzrichter May 16, 2009
Dear Friends of Paul,
To begin with allow me to thank Hans for creating this tribute page for Paul. And thank you also to John, David and Bob for their moving contributions.
I have been through a couple of difficult weeks since this fateful 25th April. The idea of writing down some memories seemed an almost impossible task. But I guess as part of the process of working through this loss I might give it a trial.
As so many people have said over the last 3 weeks, Paul was one of the most generous, selfless and giving people we have ever had the fortune to be friend with.
There is a stereotypical description of Australians around, which says Australians are “eager to please”. This might sometimes be interpreted as belittling or as an expression of lack of confidence.
In the case of Paul Smith this was the essence of a great and very honest personality and friend. He was the personified selflessness, in the best and most admirable humanist sense.
Being kind and helpful towards every living being – and that includes humans as well as all fauna and flora - came very natural to Paul. There was never the element of ‘self’ involved.
Paul was also a ‘sponge’ for knowledge. He was able to absorb and process facts and intellectual concepts at a speed and comprehensiveness which often baffled me.
Imagine sitting on the roof garden in 71 Australia Street in the evening and seeing a plane crossing over towards Kingsford Smith Airport. We normal human beings would mutter about the bloody noise. Paul would look at the plane and tell you that this is the new Boing so and so which just had a new type of engine fitted which reduced fuel consumption by X % and which was now used for all Boing planes built after XYZ.
Paul’s love and care for computers – and for that matter for anything technical – is legendary. As a consequence of that love, our little market research business – well and truly in the “small” category for this industry - must have been the one with the most working computers in the world.
One of his other great loves were Citroens. (the older the better) It is not for nothing that we called his beloved Citroen DS his mistress. (temperamental and expensive)
I remember vividly a trip which we did together with his partner Gary and our dear friend Ken. 4 weeks through some parts of Europe with Germany and Italy being the focus of our travel. And as you would expect, Paul took Italian lessons before the trip in order to be able to converse with the locals in Italy.
Since traffic in Europe happens on the ‘wrong side’ (which is right) I was by default the designated driver.
Also the brightest minds amongst us have their little weaknesses. Paul was always very keen to check the map and give directions as required. Problem was, that his grasp of “left” and “right” was at times a bit tenuous. Now can you imagine – somewhere in Luca (Tuscany) - having bellowed from the back of the car to you directions in Italian, like ….sinistro, sinistro (left, left)
Please imagine, a Teutoaustralian at the wheel with reasonable fluency in German and English being giving directions in that to me far less familiar Italian with the clear risk that sinistro should have been dextro. Hilarious I can tell you.
When I was still living in Australia street, just next to the office, we used to have, what became an almost classic institution, our Friday night dinner and drinks. The core group were four of us, Paul, Gary, Ken and I. And we would take turns in preparing meals.
For most of the year those Friday nights were held in the backyard –semi alfresco so to speak – and we would usually open the back door to Australia lane and any neighbour, so inclined, was invited to join us for some tomato salad and/or a glass of wine.
This very much reflected Paul’s great sense for neighbourhood and hospitality. I must say I remember those very many nights with great fondness, as do many of my overseas visitors who were quite naturally integrated in our group.
Some time around 1995 Paul had some hard time in his employment and needed a change. And I was more than happy to offer him the position of office manager and IT guru in my company (contrary to the Stars recollection, STATUS QUO existed before Paul joined me professionally)
I never had any doubt that Paul would be an important asset to my company and I owe him a large slab of gratitude for his immense loyalty and help which he gave me and my little company over the 15 years of tenure. I always knew what contribution he made. I now experience the loss even more.
Friends working in one business together is, as we know, not always a recipe for success. Paul and I had a wonderful professional relationship which crossed over very naturally into our private friendship of 26 years. There was never a problem with those two levels. All this has always been very informal – as you would expect – (and at times causing headaches for formalists like my accountants.)
We never had anything like a contract. We worked together for 15 years on the basis of a kiss and a hug. My company being small by design tends to have ups and downs which show themselves very obviously in cash flow. Where would you find an employer/employee relationship (and I use those expressions very loosely) where the employer rings his (only) employee and asks him “how are things with money?” and the employee responding “well at the moment I am fine, just don’t worry about salary payment” . It obviously also worked the other way around as one might expect in a friendship like ours.
As we all know, Paul had a very good grasp of all things technical and a love for putting scientific theories to the practical test. In the scientific world on this planet, I think Paul was the first who succeeded in putting Chaos Theory into practice. He found a practical application for it. And he managed to prove, that there is order in chaos. We other mere mortals might, at times, have had some difficulty in recognising this order (I know, I have) but who would argue against success.
There is a very special ‘club’ in gay Sydney, quite exclusive and – sadly – losing members who will never be replaced. The club came into being in April 1994. And it is called “the four merry widows”.
We were four good friends with something very special in common. The four of us – Michael, Don, Jochen, Paul – had all been lovers and partners at some stage in our lives with Gregg. (in the above order)
Gregg also died after suffering a severe heart attack. Given our stage in life in those days, in a somewhat more dramatic fashion, on the dance floor, during the black party in Newtown.
What never died or ended was and is the friendship amongst those four.
After Michael’s death on the 30th March 2007 and Paul now gone, our club has shrunk to half of its original membership. The club now looks at applications for associate membership with an open mind.
As most of you will know, I am not a believer in things like heaven, afterlife etc. If there were such place, I would imagine it to have four distinct sections.
The social club – a must for our social butterfly Michael –
The creative/dancing hall – where you would find Gregg quite often –
The tech club – where else would Paul get his hands dirty –
The cuisine du monde – where the three will meet regularly for culinary delights -
On that Friday night on the 1st of April 1994 when Gregg died and the four merry widows club was inaugurated, the music came from the Pet Shop Boys, and it was their song, “You were always on my mind”
Paul, Michael, Gregg, I take the liberty of modifying the title to “you are always on my mind”