In Memoriam: Joyce Mackie
Chase UK "Pensions Guru"
The Chase Alumni Association mourns the loss of Joyce Mackie, a fixture at Chase UK for nearly a half century. She died on May 15, 2008, following a long illness. She leaves behind her husband of 27 years, Peter.
Her former colleague, Miriam Sullivan, writes: "Joyce joined Chase in 1951, at the age of 15, and gave a devoted 46years of service, until she took 'early' retirement in 1997. She always worked in Human Resources and became the Pensions Guru, as absolutely noone understood the Chase Pension Scheme as well as she did. She was the person to go to for any information or advice, whether you were a current or past employee, or had already retired. Everyone knew Joyce and could rely on her expertise to get you the right answers to your questions. In fact, she was still receiving queries from people(including those running pensions within JPM) until Christmas just gone! -- such was her reputation and memory of things past and present.
"During her lifetime, she was awarded the Freedom of the City of London for the charitable work which she was involved with, although shealways played this down with her usual modesty," said Ms. Sullivan. "There must have been 100+ of us at the cremation on May 21, with many sending their apologies for not being able to attend. Such was her standing within her 'band of friends' and work colleagues. She really will be missed by absolutely everyone who ever met her.”
From Roger Griffin (May 28, 2008): “Joyce Mackie was everything that Miriam Sullivan said she was, and more. Miriam said noone understood the Chase Pension Scheme as well as Joyce did — actually, and with no criticism intended of anyone else because it’s a very technical subject — I’d suggest noone understood it except for Joyce. Her knowledge was encyclopedic, her patience would rival Job’s, and her willingness to help on any HR matter at any time was extraordinary. And she did all this with humour. She’d roll her eyes and smile in the most discrete way if a rule that she had to administer, but hadn’t had a hand in designing, didn’t meet her approval. As I’m on the verge of reaching retirement age — 34 days and counting and still don’t quite know where I stand — it had occurred to me to try and reach Joyce and ask her. I’m sorry I can’t, and I’m sorry I couldn’t thank her again for her help over the years.“
From Jim Haynes (May 28, 2008): "As Miriam said, Joyce worked all her career in HR, or 'Staff Department' as she always called it. It was during her latter years that she worked solely on pensions, becoming Secretary to the Trustees, of which Board she encouraged me to join in 1990. She was very helpful to me, the new kid on the Pensions block, and if it weren't for her, I would not have continued, and indeed would not still be here today. Shortly before the end of her career she became a Trustee herself, a role that I considered long overdue, given her commitment to ensuring the best for her 'customers' -- the Pension Plan's beneficiaries. Sadly, this appointment did not last too long, as she stood down following the merger of the various 'heritage' plans after the mergers with JPMorgan and Flemings.
"At the time of the Chemical Bank merger in 1996, Joyce was the only Chase person in London (maybe even the world) to have been merged twice - the previous time being in 1955, when the Chase National Bank merged with the Manhattan Water Company to form The Chase Manhattan Bank N.A., which became the most often quoted Bank in modern American literature, particularly within the 'crime genre'.
"Joyce's career at the Bank lasted, I think, 46 years - an achievement that will never be matched again. She was a wonderful person, and I can honestly say that everybody who knew her only had nice things to say about her. Joyce was only 72 years of age; they say the good die young. Very sadly, this is so true in her case."