Rest in peace, Harvey

I was saddened to learn of the death of an old boss of mine last weekend.

Harvey Greisman, a long-time New York-area PR guy, and former IBM communications vice president, died suddenly of a massive heart attack in Florida (even more sadly, on the same day his own father died in the hospice facility where Harvey was paying a final visit). Harvey was just 61.

I worked for Harvey when he was comms veep for IBM Global Services in 2001-02. Harvey could be a tough guy to work for. I remember one particular teleconference where he wanted to ask a question of one of his reports who was talking through a presentation on the phone. Harvey couldn’t get the guy’s attention to break in, so he began aggressively punching buttons on the phone - beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep – and eventually the speaker stopped speaking. Harvey asked some tough questions, told the guy to go back to the drawing board, and the next speaker rose to the virtual podium, a bit more apprehensive than he had been.

Harvey had strong opinions about the way things needed to be, and there were those of us who didn’t always agree. But that’s life in corporate America. He was the veep; we were the foot soldiers, and I daresay we did pretty darn good work. Ironically, I would have told anyone who asked back then that Harvey didn’t know who I was or what I did.

I was mistaken.

In 2002, I took a different job in IBM communications and left the services gig. The team threw a goodbye lunch for me at the local tavern (the best send off I’ve ever had, bar none), and I was surprised that Harvey showed up. Not only did he come, he brought a parting gift, talked specifically about my many valuable contributions to the team, and said I would always have a place in any organization he was leading. I was honored and humbled. Truly moved – and that doesn’t happen often.

A couple years later, after the job I left for had undergone some changes and become a bit less … shall we say, attractive, I wondered if Harvey had really meant what he’d said about me having “a home” in his organization. I reached out and asked, not knowing what to expect. People often say something nice, but don’t really mean it. We all know how that goes.

Harvey didn’t do that. He said he was excited to hear from me. Reminded me that I had done great work for him before and said he’d be happy to have me come back. He said he didn’t have an opening, but had been thinking of creating one, and said he thought I’d be a really good fit for what he had in mind. He advised that I should stay put for a month or so while he worked things out. Once again, Harvey blew me away.

Long story short, another offer came through before Harvey could pull anything together, and a couple weeks later, he started to doubt his ability to do so. I didn’t go back to work for Harvey.

But that’s not the point, is it. As a result of Harvey’s kindness, I have only positive memories. The other stuff doesn’t matter.

I remember Harvey as a good guy.

Rest in peace, Harvey.

• Learn more about Harvey Greisman on LinkedIn.

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I received an e-mail indicating that Harvey’s family has asked that donations be made to an American Heart Association memorial fund in Harvey’s name.

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