David is … Bright, funny, decent, humane, irreverent, mercurial, caring, vital, loving, a wizard, lively, family-man, diligent, hard-working, energetic, vibrant, far-sighted, focussed, inspiring, supportive, invincible, comfortable in his own skin, constantly cutting through the bullshit, always on, high speed, super-sharp, honest, patient, thoughful. Loved, Respected, Admired. Missed….

David – you were never one for the detail…. With a reputation for directness and brevity reflecting your attention span I never could get you to listen to me for more than a few minutes on any topic  (my favourite bit of advice when asked on how to deal with you being “you need to tell it to him like you would a toddler; 3 sentences or less and preferably with a picture) so I’ll keep this short. Thank you for being a wonderful mentor to me, a great team leader and a friend. Always ten steps ahead of everyone else waiting for us to catch up and making work a fun place to be at the hardest of times. Never seeming to take it too seriously but knowing exactly what was important. Mercilessly taking the p*ss out of us but never letting anyone else. Having a massive impact on everyone who met you. I will miss you deeply, your advice, our chats and a shared love for pink cocktails. Kids, your dad loved you very much, he was always so proud of you and your individual characters. Probably without knowing, you were a big part of our team….

Incredibly shocked and saddened by the news of David’s passing, heartfelt condolences to Cath and the children. David worked with Fera over the past couple of years and it was a pleasure to get to know him, we have fond memories of his visit to Fera where David was quickly engaged and supportive with an enabling mentality. David always made time to listen and give advice, he was razor sharp, straight to the point and challenging but this was all conducted with humility and good humour, with lots of laughter shared often during difficult discussions. I’m glad to have had the chance to catch up face to face with David this summer, he will be missed….

David brought a unique combination of calm, competent, confident credibility and down to earth realism and humour to his work. He was a joy to have as part of my team for two years and he will be much missed at work. However this will be nothing compared to the hole that he must have left in your life, Cath and my thoughts and prayers are with you and the children. with deepest sympathy  …

David, It is such a shock that you are no longer with us.  I will always remember you as someone with a smile and ready to help at any time.  A person who solved problems rather than created them and who was there to give practcal advice and support when the going got tough.  Whether telling me I dont understand my numbers (I still dont), or helping on an interview panel together to select our team or just chatting over a coffee you were a great colleague to have at our side.  I thank you for that.  Sadly, COVID reduced the amount of time we spent face to face but even over a screen your personality shone through.  Thoughtful, and ready to help.  You will be missed.  I will miss learning about your successes in your post Capita adventure.  I am sure it would have been a fantastic success.   My condolences and thoughts are with your family and all your friends….

Dear David,  We never met face-to-face, but I very much regret that I was away on holiday the week of your leaving drinks in September. I enjoyed our many interactions over Teams and your sharp intellect, direct style, sense of humour and warm personality. Please know that all those who knew you much better than me speak so incredibly highly of you.  Peter   …

This still feels so wrong.  I can only echo the wonderful tributes and positive sentiments in these heartfelt messages.  You were a pleasure to work with – someone I could trust.  Always seeing through the BS whether it came from on high or below.  You empowered and supported me, and built a great team of smart people.  But you were the smartest of them all. I was so fortunate to work with you.  My thoughts are with your family, friends and everyone impacted by your passing.  It is so, so sad.   …

David – I’m still in shock that you have left us so early – it’s incredibly unfair and sad. You had so much more to give.  I pray for your family and friends – their memories of you will I am sure help them get through this difficult time.   You were a unique character who in the 4 years I worked alongside you provided me with friendship and support and always without fail a smile, a wink and a joke. You were one of the few people I have met who appreciated what was important in life and clearly loved your family  – you told me on more than one occasion that we had won the lottery of life just doing what we were doing and never stressed. You had no ego and regularly walked around the office shirt untucked and messy but commanded huge respect from everyone. I still remember when you had to run out to buy a new pair of trousers minutes before a board meeting when I pointed out to you that you had completely split yours!!     Your team really loved you – I have rarely seen that sense of loyalty and devotion to…

David was always my sort of guy at work. Clever, hardworking and switched on with great instincts and the ability to set people at ease. He could effortlessly remove tension from work situations without detracting from their importance. He kept things simple and always did what he said he would. This meant that colleagues quickly trusted and respected him and often became friends. I will always remember how David made things happen – be that in the meeting room, at the desk or by the lifts. In a meeting I could always look at him or give a nudge and our answers would always come together – whether planned or not. A quick sortie past his desk with a tricky question, he’d look up and give that quick nugget of insight – the 1 minute result. Hanging around the lifts – the sharing of intel, the gut check, the sense on how things were going – It was during these ‘waiting for the lift’ conversations he offered advice to me as a new father, the only piece I hold – ‘Jon, the first 2 years are the best, don’t miss them’. I didn’t and I thank him for that. Rest up….

When I joined Capita over three years ago David gave me the professional advice and personal support I needed in getting to grips with Capita’s nuances.  This support seemed to come effortlessly and the time he spared really helped me.  David had natural empathy and and his advice was always sound and well delivered.  David will be remembered as being excellent at his job, an excellent colleague and friend.  Since his death it has been evident how many people at Capita knew him and were lucky enough to have worked with him.  God Bless you David, you will be sorely missed.  In deepest sympathy for your wife and family. …

To Cath & kids, Like many others who’ve left their messages, and hundreds who won’t get the opportunity, I wanted to share with you that it was an absolute pleasure to work with David and an honour get to know him on a personal level too.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you, the wider family and his close friends. David was often talked about in passing across the corridors of Capita HQ, largely because we all thought he was a diamond of an individual, a great man, who everybody loved being around as he was always such great company.  Sadly, we never told him, as like most blokes who’re hugely respected, the de facto position is trading insults or banter as a subterfuge for admiration.  We’d often clam-up quickly if he unexpectedly appeared whilst we were singing his praises, only for him to accuse us of keeping ‘intel’ (gossip) from him, which he didn’t like one bit! His intellect, wit and charisma shone bright over and above most people, much of which is covered by others in their messages, non more so than Jonathan Bennett’s where he highlights David’s mantra; ‘Being a dad is your main job and…

Dear David,  We only met in person twice and both of those were over a glass.  You were tremendous company and left me wanting to get to know you better; I deeply regret that will not happen now.  In the short time we worked together I quickly learned to trust your judgement and valued your insight and pragmatism, most importantly I had a sense of really lovely person who brought positivity and a smile with him.  You will leave an enormous hole and listening to others who knew you better it is obvious that you leave a lot of love behind.  Richard      …

“Look, our job here is to tell a great story. Know the detail, have a plan for the crap, give a bit of the old razzle dazzle and then get the hell out of there.” David didn’t mince his words. I remember telling him that if he occasionaly wrote things down and considered tucking in his shirt in he would be a brilliant leader. He laughed at me. “Why would I want to do all that boring nonsense?”. The unspoken truth was that David already was a brilliant leader. Unorthodox yes, but brilliant. Yes he was the sharpest of minds, but his real superpower was understanding people and caring. We’d spend way more time talking about how people were feeling, their motivations, the impact of decisions and personal dynamics than we would about numbers, plans or performance. He inspired commitment and genuine affection. He will continue to. I will miss David, hugely. I already am. I found myself instinctively wanting to send him a message with a funny gag and takedown of our political masters this week. I know many more would have been incoming from his end. I’d teased him about whether he was going to have a…

My condolences go out to Dave’s wife and family.  Such an incredibly tradgic loss at such a young age. I have been trying to think about what I would say about Dave since hearing of his passing and I have to say I have been at a loss.    All I can really think to say is those things I will miss with Dave no longer being with us: I will miss Dave’s wicked dry wit. As an “evil lawyer” his dark hurmour was something that I cherished.  I will miss Dave’s intellect. Dave was always the brightest person in the room  I will miss Dave’s charm and his comfort in his own self. Dave had a great ability to put people at ease and to deal with any crisis with Swan like grace. I will miss Dave’s ability to think about the bigger picture. Dave had the uncanny ability to be able to concentrate on a bigger picture regardless of what else was going on around him.   I will miss Dave’s hair ! – Odd comment, but with Dave prematurely going grey it was the only thing in any of our dealings that I could get one up…

I was shocked and extremely saddened to hear of David’s passing. He was a work colleague for 6 years but he was way more than that, he’d become a great friend. David had a keen eye for the numbers but was a great business partner, and thankfully was never “a bit Spursy”. We’d shared many a beer or long phone call just chatting rubbish and having a good giggle at some of the chaos we all deal with on a daily basis. It was always fun to see his children walk in to his office and contribute towards the subject of the day, or hear them playing in the park as David had this ability to fix operational challenges while keeping his family entertained. Always humble in everything he did David was set to become an even bigger star and has been taken from us far too soon. I will really miss him and my thoughts and condolences go out to all his family. x …