A tribute to Paul Allman
Preservica CFO and dear friend (February 29, 1964 — December 5, 2022)
In loving memory of Paul Allman
February 29, 1964 — December 5, 2022
This page has been created to celebrate the life of Preservica’s dear friend and colleague, Paul Allman.
Paul had a prolonged battle with MND (Motor Neuron Disease), which is a progressive and incurable disease. Paul continued working as long as he possibly could, partly because being active at work helped to keep his mind off his illness, but mainly because he really loved Preservica, and all the people he worked with.
We will all miss him more than words can express, and our sympathies are with his family.
This page includes photos and memories of Paul, as we should remember him – a wonderful colleague, a trusted leader and mentor, a good friend, and someone with a great sense of honor, humility, and humor (not just limited to his taste in jumpers!). This is a place for us all to share fond anecdotes, photos, or stories about Paul. If you have something you would like to contribute to this tribute to Paul. Please email info@preservica.com.
There has also been a great outpouring of memories on LinkedIn, you can see the thread here.
Paul Allman Award
The Paul Allman award was created to recognize a Preservica employee who goes above and beyond to mentor/help another colleague, as Paul himself would have done.
A list of the Paul Allman Award winners:
2023 Winner - Tom Lally
Memories of Paul from Tracy
Longtime friend and colleague shared some of her fondest memories of Paul. It is clear that he was lots of fun with a taste for adventure.
- His Leap Year birthday.
- His love of the LMFAO “Party Rock Anthem” song – me and him used to play it – he always said he wished he could dance like them.
- Buying him Stargazer lilies to make the house smell nice – then finding them outside in the garden on my next visit as he was allergic to them!
- His Pond Weed!
- Calling his brother his Sister!
- His Poker Nights with the lads.
- C-Suite Taxis – Jason can tell you all about that one!
- Racing the Escape from Alcat raz Triathlon in San Francisco the same year I was there cheering on my partner who was also racing it. So our paths crossed (unbeknown to us) many years before we met!
- He played drums in a band.
- Paul broke his leg running and had to crawl/drag himself out of the forest to get help.
- His Trek to the North Pole.
- Throwing that trick egg at me, thinking it was real, and it was a rubber joke one!
- Making him Gluten Free Victoria sponges and him taking one to his dad who said it was the best vici sponge he’d ever tasted!
- Bringing him back wine from my trips to Lanzarote where the grapes are grown in the volcano ash. He said it was the best red wine he’d ever tasted!
- Bringing him back fresh Saffron from Lanzarote – he said it was the worst saffron he’d ever tasted!!!!! Waste of money that was!
- He was apparently known to be stingy, but I never saw that side of him – he was totally generous to me with his time, help and advice.
- He used to run in to the office occasionally. He was so fit. He’d cycle loads too.
- Saying he wanted to get better so he could see his grandchildren.
- Lots more that I will remember fondly when he pops up in my thoughts now he’s gone
Paul the joker from Ann
One of my memories of Paul is when COVID first hit and we were all stuck indoors all day, except for an hour per day.
Shopping for food was a bit of a nightmare as only a few people were let in to shop at any one time and long queues formed outside, all across the car park and beyond, everybody 2 meters apart.
As Paul lived in the same town as I – Thame, I saw him a few times as we both liked getting out and do our shopping very early in the morning before work.
Waitrose (our supermarket) had a policy that said that if you were over 75, you did not have to queue, but could walk to the front of the long line.
One early morning, just after 7 am, I joined the queue only to spot Paul about 4 or 5 people ahead. After a while two very young Waitrose staff came out and shouted that if anybody was over 75, they should come out of the queue and get to the front.
Paul then shouted in a very loud voice, pointing at me, saying that “the lady in the blue coat is over 75 and should go ahead”. Slightly embarrassed, I tried to just shake my head but to no avail. Paul then shouted, “she is just shy, but she really is over 75”.
By that time the whole queue of about 50 people were all looking at me – and I wished I could just disappear. The 2 members of staff rushed up to me to try to persuade me to get to the front and I just kept saying “do I look like I am over 75?”.
Paul laughed so much he almost fell over and once inside, slightly later, I passed him in an aisle whispering, “I am going to get you for this!”, which again made him laugh uncontrollably.
Consider how very strict and serious he was when he joined Preservica, it is a very nice and funny memory. I still chuckle when I think of it.
