In Memoriam: William "Billy" Haywood, 57
Treasury Services Group in London
William Grenville ‘Billy’ Haywood was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, on February 3rd, 1956. He spent part of his childhood in Vancouver, before returning to Grammar School in the UK, then going up to Sidney Sussex College at Cambridge in 1974.
After graduating, Billy lived in Kingston-upon Thames, and worked in technical roles for British Aerospace, before joining the Treasury Services Group at Chase Manhattan in London in 1984.
He stayed with the same group throughout his career at Chase, until 2002, as a critical technical member of the development group of our global electronic banking products for international clients. Billy was highly respected by the technical community both inside and outside the bank, for his special expertise in systems infrastructure and the mathematics-intensive field of computer and process security. Outside work, inevitably, many of his friends and acquaintances were indebted to him for solving the trickier problems encountered in the use of PCs. He was also a very valuable resource for parents struggling to help their children with advanced mathematics homework, as well as virtually every other scientific topic!
He will be deservedly well-remembered for his technical ability and knowledge. He was always able to answer and explain any technical question. When he did meet clients in their office, they were deeply impressed. Among his friends and colleagues, he was generally regarded as a genius.
He died on Monday, 13th May, in St.George’s Hospital, Tooting, after a very short visit. A number of us from Chase Manhattan attended his funeral in Kingston on 30th May, and remembered his life in typical style at his local pub, together with his mother and other close friends.
“People did not access the world of Billy with ease; rather, you were assessed and considered before he opened up to you. If he was your friend, or rather, you were his friend, because he chose them well, it felt like a privilege.”
From a life partner: “Bill allowed me to introduce furniture and colour to his home – although it cost him a lot to lose the bareness that he had lived in. One day, I painted the front door a beautiful eggshell Georgian blue – sanded, primed, sanded between coats and three coats applied – a work of art. He came home from work as usual, but seemed to be taking a long time getting showered and changed before dinner. I went looking for him and found him, still wearing his business suit, removing every trace of paint from the door.”
“On Christmas Day he would arrive at our door with a case of red and a case of white, and we would spend the day together”.
Extracted from a school exercise book written in March 1964, just before Bill moved to Canada. “On Saturday, Martin came to play with me. We played with my chemistry set, we made an hydrous copper sulphate by heating copper sulphate and we made a copper carbonate by adding water to copper sulphate and a sodium carbonate.”
Bill at eight.
What were you doing when you were eight?
R.I.P.
Donations
Online via http://www.justgiving.com/stgeorgescf/Donate
or send a cheque – made payable to St George’s Hospital Charity - to
St George’s Hospital Charity (Fundraising Office)
St George’s Hospital
Blackshaw Road
London
SW17 0QT
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Anyone wishing to share a remembrance should send it to news@chasealum.org.
From Ian Forster: I was very saddened to learn of Bill's death in the 2013 Sidney Sussex College Annual. He was always Bill to me when I was his maths supervision partner in 1974 and 1975. I last met him at a college re-union dinner in 2005 I think.