Eli Partyka has very kindly offered to put together a portfolio for Robert Durand with greetings from all of Robert's old Chipman / Zeneca colleagues wishing him a long and healthy retirement.
This will be a SURPRISE for Robert, so please do not E-Mail Robert.
If you'd like to be included in this prestigious event, please send your Best Wishes, and perhaps a story or two that you recall about Robert when he was in Stoney Creek, directly to Eli and he will print them out, put them in a binder and present them to Robert at his Retirement Dinner in July.
Please e-mail your Retirement Best Wishes / Congratulations for Robert directly to Eli by July 15th. Eli's E-Mail address is: Elias.Partyka@SYNGENTA.COM
From Eli Partyka:
"Robert
Durand is retiring after a long time working with Syngenta – he was also a key
guy in Chipman and Zeneca too. The Retirement Dinner is Friday,
July 20 in Switzerland.
Robert is always asking and is curious about the Chipman gang.
Robert is always asking and is curious about the Chipman gang.
Robert is living in France close to Basel, Switzerland. He’s still working in Basel (his office used to be next to mine) 'till July.
I think he’s bought some property in South of France somewhere. He has two sons - one guy married a Japanese girl and lives in Japan and the other is a banker (or something) in USA somewhere. Cheers, Eli."
From Louis Caron
I have known Robert since the mid eighties. As you know I also worked with Robert when he was marketing director. So here are my 2 cents. Some of the facts are a bit vague since my memory becomes a bit gray over the years.
I first met Robert when I was on secondment in Farnham UK and he was on secondment from France to Jeallot’s Hill. I seem to recall at that time he was involved in the development of the ultra low volume electrostatic spray technology – “Electrodyn”. Can anyone remember that far back? Better yet, does anyone remember the infamous ED Sprayers? Maybe Robert can shed some light on that saga.
I returned to Canada in 1988 and at that time, Robert was working in the technical department at Chipman. A year or so later he became marketing director – much to the amazement of everyone – how could a teckky become a marketing guru? I sure was puzzled myself. He soon proved that he had the skills to run an effective marketing department. I recall the long marketing strategy discussions in his office where he was growing the very large passion flower. Eli, I think he wanted to prove that he could compete against your cactus that was literally growing through the ceiling in your office!
Some of you may recall the office launch of Premier seed treatment – Vladimir Wagner was the manager of the seed treatment business. After the announcement, we asked Robert to do a blind Champagne taste test. We chose about 8 different sparkling wines, including Baby Duck at one end of the scale and one high quality Champagne. But we also added one little surprise at the end. Robert had to rate each sample on a scale of 1 to 10. In this random test, he scored the high quality Champagne as a 10. He sure know his Champagne! Then the next one was a surprise… We substituted the wine for beer. The expression on his face was priceless. He scored beer as zero!
Some of you know may know that Robert enjoyed Canada a lot. In fact, enough to become a Canadian citizen. But the irony was that on the same day he became a Canadian citizen, he found out that he would be relocating back to Europe! Life’s little surprises.
In late 1995, I had the opportunity to visit Robert in his new role at Fernhurst. I recall that I was visiting the UK for one of the famous international “fly-ins”. At that time I was also a strong advocate of Lotus Notes. Robert and I shared the same positive thoughts on this effective communication tool, but that was not shared by the rest of the company’s IT department since Microsoft was the chosen platform. At that same get together, I announced to Robert that I was leaving Zeneca and starting Norac Concepts. The look on his face and the body language was priceless!
These are just a few fond memories of the Robert. Lucile and I always enjoyed the marketing department parties with Ronda and Robert at their house in Waterdown. Over time we became not only work colleagues, but good friends as well.
Robert, enjoy your retirement and if you are ever in Ottawa, please come to visit us. Louis
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