Industry Remembers Former Quantel CEO Richard Taylor

July 13, 2009

Source: TV Technology

Richard Taylor, former long-time chairman and CEO of Quantel, died June 26 after a short battle with cancer. He was 64.

Taylor joined Quantel Ltd. in 1975. Over his 30 years with the company, he helped lead the development of such Quantel products as Paintbox, Harry, and iQ. In 2000, he led a management buyout of the company from Carlton Communications for 51 million pounds, (US$76.6 million). He also received numerous awards including the Montreux Gold Medal in 1981, the Royal Television Society Chairman’s Gold Medal in 1985, the Eduard Rhein Prize in 1986 and the David Sarnoff Award in 1990. He resigned as Quantel’s chairman and CEO in 2005.

“Richard had a wonderful way of looking at problems and opportunities from a completely ‘other’ place,” said Roger Thornton, Quantel spokesman. “This, and his infectious enthusiasm and ability to draw out original ideas from others around him, was the genesis of the highly original thinking that fuelled Quantel. Richard also had the determination and belief to inspire his team to see those ideas through— often in the face of industry reactions such as ‘why on earth would you want to do that?’ He knew exactly why and was proved right time and again. He was a great man, and he was also a very fine human being—a rare combination, and he will be sorely missed.”

“Richard inspired me with his enthusiasm, dedication and raw engineering talent,” said Richard Crompton, an engineer with Quantel. “His ability to lead the teams that turned “impossible” engineering concepts into real commercial products time and time again, had to be observed to be believed. I have lost someone I respected immensely, and the industry has lost a true entrepreneur.”

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