Gerry Fitzsimons, chief executive of TTP Ventures, has died aged 47 following a lengthy battle against lung cancer. He is survived by a wife and five daughters.
Gerry was in the process of raising a major technology-focussed fund
before being stricken by illness. Before joining TTP Ventures he was a
‘rainmaker’ in the region’s legal circles.
With a degree in jurisprudence from Oxford University, he left
University College in 1981. After the College of Law in Guildford, he
joined Clifford Chance in 1982 and qualified as a solicitor in 1984.
After qualification he spent time at Clifford Chance – now the world's
largest law firm – and with the leading New York law firm of Shearman
and Sterling.
In 1987 Gerry moved to Taylor Vinters in Cambridge where he remained
until 1996, when he started up the Cambridge Garretts office alongside
Arthur Andersen. He was managing partner of Andersen Legal until 2002
when its global offices were hit by the fall-out at Arthur Andersen
following the Enron scandal and the firm was closed down.
While colleagues joined other law firms, Gerry took up the chief role at TTP Ventures with his familiar passion. He had been external legal counsel to TTP Group since it was formed and
to the fund. He was also a director of TeraView, Oxford Diffraction
and TTP Group plc.
Gerry had extensive experience of negotiating and structuring private
equity transactions and exits. As a top corporate lawyer with a
particular focus on the technology sector, he undertook a large number
of private equity transactions - both for investee companies and funds.
The major legal profession guides all rated him “an outstanding rainmaker.”
His significant transactions included the October 2000 IPO of TTP
Communications plc, the December 2000 merger of The Astron Group
Limited and Tactica Group plc and the merger of Dalehead Foods Limited
and Roche Foods Limited in September 1999.
His regular venture capital clients had included Technomark/Lloyds TSB
Development Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners Limited, First Cambridge
Gateway and TTP Ventures.
Gerry was a major contributor to the successful development of Business
Weekly’s East of England Business Awards when Arthur Andersen was chief
sponsor. Chief executive Tony Quested said: “Gerry was one of the sharpest
judges of a good business I had the pleasure to work with in the 18
years of the Business Awards to date. He eschewed hype at all times and
backed sound judgement with a commendable focus on what it took to
achieve commercial success. Our hearts go out to his wife and
daughters.”
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
Delicious
Digg
NewsVine
Reddit
Technorati
