I learned that there were different ways to be smart long before I met Mark Uris. Mark had an M.B.A. and a background as a buyer for a major retail chain, when for some reason he decided to follow a different career path and become a software developer. He was not the best software developer I'd ever met. In fact, he pretty much sucked at it. I'm sure he knew it, too.
But the great thing about information technology is that it exploits a broad range of skill sets like nobody's business. Mark was no exception. When he went into management and ended up with responsibility for purchasing everything from individual disk drives to entire server farms, he really came into his own. There was no one as good as he was at dealing with vendors, negotiating prices, and somehow keeping everyone on both sides of the table happy. Well, for sure, our upper management was happier than our vendors, but even the vendors didn't have too much to complain about. Mark understood the principle of Win-Win. He also managed his group of system administrators with skill, good goofy humor, and humanity.
Mark may have had some notoriety because of his father, Leon Uris, author of Exodus and other epic novels. But to me, Mark was just the guy down the hall that knew where the spare parts were, who knew who would fix my workstation (and more importantly, when), the guy who saved the organization a ton of money while getting us engineers some really cool hardware, and who could be counted on for the latest bad joke.
Mark Jay Uris died of cancer on March 29th at age 56. He was survived by his wife, two daughters, and four siblings. He was a reliable friend and a valued colleague.
When you're young, you live with this misconception that not only are you immortal, but so are your friends. It comes as a shock when you discover for the first time that this isn't the case. It doesn't get any easier the older you get.
I am already missing him.
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3 comments:
A sweet and honest portrait.
We should all be so lucky, to be remembered fondly by those on the periphery of our lives.
May his memory be for a blessing.
I miss him always--he would have found a way to the world series. He could see Fenway from his room--and woe a NY Yankee robe to walk the halls and piss-off the nurses and docs--always the humor
Mark was a friend, a boss, a mentor when I was 19 years old. When he left our store to become a buyer I was mad that I could not follow.
Over the years as our lives went separate ways, I have thought to find him and add him back to my circle of friends. I was busy becoming a professional investor and finding my own way in life. Recently I have become involved with another lifelong friend and his company Xelr8.
While attending an Insight I Seminar I decided my major goal was to make sure I reconnected with 16 friends who I had lost touch with and made sure that at 50 (in October) I did not live the next 50 years without these friends always being in my life.
Today I found Mark in your Blog, but not in the way I expected. So now the wonderful mentor, friend, and boss I remember will always be one of my 16. He will live on in memory and with love in my heart!
May God take care of us all until we get to join both God and Mark in our next life!
Joe Manzanares
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