In Memoriam — RIP Rich Kreisman
Since 1997, our company has seen just about everything taking place among our team, often celebratory and sometimes downright scary. We have had babies born, kids going off to college, marriages (but no divorces), retirements, and 25-year employee anniversaries. We’ve had just about everything, but never the loss of a colleague. Sadly, today I’m writing about Rich, who left us this month after a valiant battle against cancer. He leaves a big hole in our team and in our hearts.
I met Rich Kreisman moons ago. I knew him back when he worked for one of the up-and-comers in the company profile space: Avenue, a real pacesetter for the industry. He went to IAC (which would become ThomsonGale), iSyndicate, HighBeam Research, and Healthline. And then he hung out his shingle and did consulting and became our VP & Practice Leader for the Science, Technology & Healthcare space. Dealing with elder care issues, he wanted to go back to consulting, needing even more flexibility than we could offer. He’d lost his dad, was managing elder care for his mom, and always stayed the devoted son and colleague that he was. Rich was always the one to find win-win, and he’d do amazing work as a consultant for us from that point on.
We began having lunches from time to time. I met his forever partner Jack and his dog Gemma as we always shared what was going on in our lives and our partners/spouses and dogs were central to them. We’d talk about my kids and his sister’s kids. We caught up from time to time in between ground-breaking work, which Rich always led and completed with thoroughness, attention to detail, and the sharp answers the clients needed to get their decisions taken. He sized new market opportunities in international countries, helped one of the leading pharma info companies plot their next course, looked at AI in the field of STM, and so much more. Rich worked on an amazing number of projects and never did he deliver one that didn’t meet or exceed the client’s expectations. That’s who Rich was: caring and complete in whatever he did.
His LinkedIn Bio describes him this way: “Performance-driven, accomplished management consultant and business development executive with more than 20 years of experience in start-up and established B2B and B2C media, content and software companies. Excels in strategic planning for new products and partnerships as well as market landscape/competitive analysis. Specialist in content licensing and acquisition strategy. Vertical Market Focus Areas: Healthcare Information, Publishing and Technology; Scientific & Technical Information; Library/Reference Publishing; Legal Publishing and Information Services; Financial Information Services.”
Rich brought product management experience and licensing experience to his vertical experience, which made him a unique talent. But more than anything, Rich was a consummate professional, a caring friend, a fabulous son, and amazing partner. He cared. Whatever he touched, he cared.
He was an individual who always asked how you were doing and wanted to know how your family was, too. In the middle of his battle, my own husband had a significant and unexpected surgery. It was Rich who was asking how he was doing, checking in with me and asking if we needed anything. Not one to get lost in his own battle, he wanted to check in on the other guy first. He fought valiantly and he fought hard, but in the end, the cancer won. We lost a friend, a colleague, and someone special from the Outsell team who will be forever missed. RIP Rich, and know that you made a huge difference here. We’ll miss you around this place. Thank you for who you were and all you did. Most of all, thank you for the pleasure and privilege of calling you a friend.