IN MEMORIAM – Well Remembered
The Quiet Passing of a Quiet Business Giant
David A. Woodcock
{ 1932-2016 }
Business, Commerce and Entrepreneurship empowerment was genetically embedded in the DNA of David A. Woodcock.
“The Senator” as he was affectionately known to long time partners, associates and colleagues, passed away quietly from complications caused by advanced dementia at age 84 in his beloved Highlands of North Carolina. The political office title, stemmed from an unfulfilled senatorial term of a close political friend’s sudden death and subsequent Gubernatorial short interim appointment to the Capitol.
David served as a wise, seasoned and trusted “OF COUNSEL” ADVISOR to MORGAN JONES and Partners from our founding and was a well spring of ideas, knowledge, guidance, experiences and bright shining brilliance.
David had a lifetime of unparalleled business achievements, but always allowed others to claim the fame while he stood slightly off stage and humbly out of the limelight.
David loved business, creation of new ventures, capitalizing ideas into products, services, brands and enterprises. He served as the mid-wife to deliver billions of dollars of sales, revenues, increased earnings and shareholder enrichment …
Simply stated, David A. Woodcock was a “One of a Kind” entrepreneur advocate, who was engaged, involved and a part of hundreds of new business creations. He may well be the greatest entrepreneur … You Never Heard Of …
One of David’s wonderful and beloved friends, Charlie Reed, Chancellor of the University of California System’s wife, referred to David as a “WHEELER DEALER”. David always gracefully said that, he embraced the term affectionately as someone who breathed life into a new business idea to recruit and provide livelihood to the best and brightest minds from Charlie’s universities in California.
David A. Woodcock was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1932 in the midst of the Great Depression and later attended Gettysburg College from where he enlisted in the U S Air Force and received special language training for intelligence purposes in the Russian language at Syracuse University. He was posted to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska during the Korean Conflict monitoring Russian radio transmissions.
David loved sport and eventually barn stormed the junior circuit and played minor league baseball with the Detroit Tigers system before settling into a lifelong love affair with entrepreneurial enterprise.
He commenced his business career as a Midtown Manhattan executive recruiter, founding his own venture which assisted in establishing the TOP EXECTIVE placement industry. David anchored his executive recruiting practice between noted Fortune 500 CEO haunts of the Union League Club and 21 Club. Within his close circle of clients and friends were some the most successful, powerful and notable business personalities of the ADMAN era in New York and Downtown Wall Street.
He was a trusted adviser to Pete Roselle, NFL Commissioner, working closely with him as an elected member of the NFL’s Board of Directors from which David was assigned an OF COUNSEL responsibility to explore platforms to strengthen the league office on behalf of the owners. From this consulting appointment David Woodcock has been widely recognized as one of the creators of NFL Properties. Dave’s partnership with Wilson Harrell and TV personality, Art Linkletter [ and later with the undersigned ] built a successful marketing organization representing well known consumer products. One such product was the national branding, marketing and distribution of Formula 409, which became the world largest household All-Purpose liquid cleaner. That business was sold to Clorox for over 1000 X ROI and the proceeds were used to grow Harrell International into the world’s largest seller and distributor of processed foods. David was instrumental and at the birth and delivery of untold successful business such as Retirement Corporation of America, Business Kids and Kagi Systems [ electronic horse gate analysis technology ] which, later in his career, sparked him to become the Chairman of the Jockey Guild. David Woodcock was instrumental in the reorganization of Inc. Magazine, a magazine about “Fast Growing” mid-size company’s, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. David was quietly credited with the creation of INC 500 and the Counsel of Growing Companies … As magazine industry seldom promotes real publishing genius in favor of editorial wizardry.
David Woodcock served on the Business Kids Foundation board and was one of the Principal Faculty Lecturers when then, USSR Minister of Foreign Affair, Eduard Shevardnadze, invited Business Kids to present the first ever Symposium [ 5 days ] in Moscow in 1990 on “ENTREPRENUERSHIP “. The program was a revolution of ‘How to Imagine, Plan, Start and Build Your Own Business’ presented to 500 students, professors and state owned enterprise directors from all 15 Soviet Federations …
Woodcock’s life as an entrepreneur was recognized and celebrated by Western Carolina University in 2014 when he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Business Degree for his contributions to the university and its students. He served on the College Business Advisory Board and as the Chairman of School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. David Woodcock took great pleasure in encouraging young entrepreneurs assisting them in building a future …
What a life of Entrepreneurial achievement well lived, fully enjoyed and shared to inspire thousands of others … Senator you will be missed.
GOOD JOB Dave… Forever RIP
Your Serial Business Partner
Joe Vincent
The Quiet Passing of Dr. Paul-Robert Haag
{ 1942-2022 }
We mourn the sudden passing of Dr. Paul-Robert Haag a dear friend, colleague and long-serving Member of the Board of Directors of Morgan Jones and Partners AG.
Paul was a seasoned expert in business development, fiscal and tax related matters, and in addition to his position as a Board Member of Morgan Jones and Partners AG, served as a Director on a number of other Swiss and non-Swiss domiciled companies. In his capacity with Morgan Jones and Partners he was a treasured and respected advisor and our revered PhD. in residence.
Born in Basle, Switzerland, Paul later became a resident of Luzern. In addition to his many business activities, he was a passionate and renowned jazz trombone and Swiss Alphorn player and jazz music composer, having accompanied many of the world’s great jazz players, including at the Montreux Jazz Festival, in addition to being a member of a number of well-known and oft recorded Swiss jazz groups. Following retirement from active business life, Paul threw himself into his beloved music, becoming an avid composer and player, which saw – by invitation – travel to Japan, Mongolia, and many other countries with his Alphorn quintet including invitation by the Swiss Embassy and U.S. State Department in Washington D.C. to perform at a festival of nations. And, when practicing at his beloved mountain residence near Luzern, the sound of his Alphorn could often be heard wafting across the valley below.
Paul will now be playing with the angels, and may he forever rest in peace.
