My
tribute to Andy is in part unashamedly taken from words kindly shared by Sara Read, Andy’s wife, soul mate and life partner for nearly 30 years. Sara sums up how a lot of his colleagues including myself felt about Andy, so I would like to echo them in my memory of him and in paying my respects to him.
 
“Andy
loved his job at the BBC. After his many years at Thomson Reuters, where we had expected he would stay for many more, it was a big challenge for him to find anything that would give him the same job satisfaction and stimulus that he enjoyed in his career to-date. He has been so happy there and has met and worked with so many interesting and inspirational people. It made us both extremely proud to tell people he worked for the BBC. His new project really gave him such a lot of satisfaction and he had been really relishing the work he had ahead. 
 
I
have been overwhelmed by the immense number of kind and heartfelt messages I have received since Sunday. In a year that has been unbelievably hard for us all, people who know us well, and many who just know us in passing, have shared their shock and genuine admiration for Andy. The words used again and again are "kind, thoughtful, generous, patient". His calm demeanour and respect for others, along with his solid work ethic are, I hope, all things that his colleagues at the BBC will recognise. The world is a far poorer and less bright place without him in it. To know that he was loved by so many, when he was such a private man, is testament to how the quiet ones are often the ones that leave a lasting impression.” 
 
Andy
joined the department in 2014 and it was obvious from the outset that he brought with him a wealth of experience but in addition, a genuine curiosity to learn and develop both his own skills but also to share his knowledge and inquisitive mind with his colleagues. I think like many professionals who enter the BBC from commercial partners he was sometimes surprised by the cautious nature (public scrutiny so usually more cautious) for some projects he was working on but on the flip side he got to experience the scale of the BBC at it’s best with various Elections and large scale initiatives as well as continuing to work with external bodies like the IPTC and DPP, so I think overall the balance suited him.
 
Andy
was instrumental in getting our new stills proposition up and running and this is again where his knowledge, generosity and calm patience shone through especially with me asking him endlessly, have you thought about this, that and the other! Of course he had but he was always the diplomat in conveying that back to me.     
 
The
world will indeed be a far poorer place without Andy in it and so will the BBC.
 
Heartfelt
condolences
Alan
Whiston