- Steller career with over 20 stops, the envy of today’s Gen Z
- Everybody Loves Raymond was a sitcom, but Raymond experienced it
Raymond Victor was one of those people put on earth to be a friend to all. From the Indian barber in his neighbourhood, to the cook at the warung next door to the laundromat he ran, to the customers of his laundromat, and No, you didn’t have to be a regular customer for Raymond to befriend you.
Professionally, he left a mark in every organisation he worked at across a long and successful career starting from 1993 and spanning three decades at over 20 organizations (he was the original Gen Z in Gen X clothing), including some of the top enterprise tech companies in the world, holding AsiaPac leadership roles; to working at local champions, and with a short but rewarding stint at Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation. He only fell short at becoming Malaysia country manager. But he gave it his best shot. No regrets, he told me.
Achievements in the world of enterprise tech are fleeting, measured on a quarter to quarter basis and rewarded monetarily. No framed congratulatory cert or momento from the bosses. But there are some actions a person can do that reveal a bit about their mindset.
A former exec from a IT distributor told me that Raymond, after being turned down by his bosses at a global tech company, persisted over the next 12 months to convince them that the company should send its distributors to a yearly event in the US and to see it as an investment in its partners and not an expense.
“It was the first time in the history of that company in Malaysia that they sponsored two people from their distributors to their tech forum. I was one of them. I owe it to
Raymond for being persistent and making the case for his distributors to travel to the USA to uplift their knowledge and skills.”
Still, Raymond wouldn’t want me or anyone who knew him to dwell on his career here. Rather on how he touched hearts throughout his 56 year life before a heart attack suddenly took him away from loved ones last month.
Blessed with a kind, calm, gentle demeanour and a warm smile, Raymond also had a giant heart. During the early dark days of Covid, some tech executives came together to arrange for food supplies to be sent to some rural families in need. According to a friend, Raymond immediately offered his laundromat (which he ran on the side of his busy corporate life. Recall what I said earlier about Raymond never planning to fully retire) as a store, sorting and packing location. But that’s not all.
“He carefully kept all the contacts of the needy and made sure they received all the food and also captured what they needed next.”
Where most people would have patted themselves on the back for doing good, Raymond had to make sure that the families got what they needed and not what what some well meaning urban folks thought they needed. Reflect on that as the measure of a man’s heart and soul.
On a personal basis, Raymond cracked the wall I had erected as a tech journalist to keep professional relationships at that.
He could effortlessly draw you into orbit, using any common link. In my case, the birth of my first born, within months of his first born, both boys.
And thus began a two decades friendship and with both of us born in Ipoh, I had expected a fun and community engaged retirement with him. Those who know Raymond though will tell you that full retirement was not on the cards for him. Not for the man who in his last LinkedIn post encouraged, “I realise some of the best days of our lives have not happened yet.. so we got to keep moving .. there are also a million reasons why life is amazing. All you have to do is find a few of them to remind you of how blessed you are to be alive.”
Raymond wasn’t supposed to go so soon, but the good Lord decided he was needed and took Raymond into his embrace while he was enroute to celebrate his first son’s graduation in Scotland.
With a work ethic inspired by his mum, who raised Raymond and his two siblings on her own after the passing of her husband when the kids were still very young, Raymond was also a devoted and loving son who became the leader of his family.
This was no surprise to his Andersonian classmates from Ipoh.
“In so far as our group was concerned, he was the alpha male of the class, automatically chosen as class monitor year after year. Our teachers recognized from the get-go this leadership and dynamism about him. To us, he was also the fun guy to sit next to in class.
He did not just know everyone, he took the trouble to actually know everyone,” they wrote in a tribute to him, adding, “What stood out most however was his ability to be friends with everyone. It seemed everyone was his best friend, such was his personality. But it was not something that just came by. He invested in friendship and fellowship.”
Paradoxically, for someone so steeped in tech, Raymond nurtured his friendships the old school way – meeting you face to face over a drink and always with a smile. Mr Rolodex, one friend called him.
Those meets didn’t just happen in the Klang Valley. An ex-colleague turn friend (a constant theme in Raymond’s life) from over two decades ago shared a picture of him and Raymond catching up over a pint in Stockholm last year. Raymond had reached out prior to his travels.
A common theme also emerges from conversations with and emails from Raymond’s close friends. To rejoice and celebrate his life and continue his legacy of ‘ doing good for all’, we too should try to do that little bit more for others and to be a better friend ourselves. I can see Raymond smiling down and giving us his trademark two thumbs up.
Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO shared in 2020 that his father once had told him, “life is a terminal condition, and no one makes it out alive. But one’s life can speak to us by passing on what is most important about being human and how to live.”
Raymond’s life personified what was said by Satya’s father, said a close friend.
And in that same last posting on his LinkedIN just before his passing last month, Raymond ended his post with:
I am thankful, grateful and blessed for all the good things in life ..
Seize the Day .. Carpe Diem