Despite hearing Mark’s name a few times years prior, I first met Mark around 5 years ago, I was an impressionable 24 year old looking for some guidance career-wise. I’d just stopped working for my parents company and didn’t know what to do next or where to go. I remember my Mum kept saying to me “go and see Mark Pickering!” and “how many times have I told you to pick up the phone to Mark Pickering?” – she knew Mark from Mark placing her during her past in Furniture Sales (she was the best candidate he’d ever had, according to Mark, or so he said!).

I reached out to Mark and met Mark for the first time at his office at the Maltings in Stanstead Abbotts. We hit it off and bonded straight away. I was taken back by Mark’s kind nature and all around good-will, it was just a shame about the football team! Something we always threw banter at each other about. But being a Spurs fan, I always got plenty of stick back, and rightly so!

I remember after I met Mark for the first time, I called my Mum straight away and said “You were right about that Mark Pickering! What a lovely man” – and before I knew it, Mark had placed me in my first furniture role in London.

As a youngster, I was never a confident person and I never really met anybody who believed in me. But Mark really did believe in me and truly changed my life. I owe so much to Mark. A man who on the surface was just a recruiter, but turned into a truly great friend of mine. He saw something in me and gave me the confidence to stand tall and take on any and every opportunity that life threw at me.

Mark would always tell me how proud he was of his son, Matt, who was at Oxford University and had just joined Cushman and Wakefield. He was so proud that he would tell me about Matt joining Cushman and Wakefield pretty much every single time that we met and/or spoke. But I’d never tell him that he’d told me that before, or stop him, because I could tell how much it meant to him. There’s nothing quite like listening to a proud and happy father.

I’ve got so many fond memories of Mark that it’s hard to know where to stop.

I am devastated by the loss of Mark and I will remember him and all of the great times and brilliant conversations we had for the rest of my life.

Rest in Peace Mark, you are truly missed