Sir Edwin Nixon

Gavin Wilson, market analyst and director, IBM UK Pensions Trust, writes: As your obituary (Aug 22) said, Eddie “encouraged employees to criticise, and believed that IBM found success because of it”.

During his long tenure as chief executive of IBM UK, he maximised the opportunity for the voice of the employee to be heard. He read every response to the company’s “Speak Up” programme; he encouraged every employee to complete the anonymous opinion survey; and there were financial incentives for successful ideas submitted to the suggestions programme. Today, in a global but more centralised industry where executives might view employee comments as interference, none of these programmes exists.

I only spoke to Eddie once, as one of the successful participants in the Nixon Cup, a chess tournament, which reflected another of his interests. He asked the winners up to his South Bank office simply to congratulate them and chat (no photographer or member of the IBM news team was invited.)

He spoke at a meeting in 1981 — a period when our City-based branch was looking forward to moving to the South Bank office then under construction. One of our managers boldly inquired whether, like the Shell building in the same area, the facilities at the new location would include a swimming pool. Eddie replied drily that IBM wasn’t in the hotel business.

Geoff Henderson writes: I was lucky enough to work for IBM for 25 years. “Eddie” had been managing director for eight years when I joined, but I was aware of him very quickly; he constantly toured the company’s locations, spreading the word of our progress. Meeting people was one of his great gifts. No matter your position in the business, Eddie made you feel special. He was a gentleman, and a very considerate one. Later in my career I was to brief him before a formal dinner with the main board of my customer, a large engineering enterprise. The briefing had been arranged by his secretary for late morning, after which I was to drive north and check arrangements for the evening. When Eddie arrived in his office he spotted me and insisted that his secretary rearrange his diary so that I could get away quickly, substantially easing the pressure on me — “Geoff’s got the travelling to do, my other meetings are local.” And needless to say, his performance over dinner was flawless. When, much later, I congratulated him on his knighthood, and asked how he was now to be addressed, he replied: “If you know me as Eddie, I’m still Eddie. If you don’t, I’m Sir Edwin.”

Roderick MacLean

Paul Barker writes: I was estate engineer at Cocos during Roderick’s (obituary, July 22) period there and stayed in touch with him for the rest of his life. The islands and their population exerted a kind of magic over many of us who worked there, and over none more than Roderick. I was unsurprised that he became so closely involved in the wellbeing of those islanders who emigrated to Sabah and while he was able to work for their wellbeing, in return he received a level of affection that was very rewarding to a lifelong bachelor. Nothing gave him more satisfaction than their success in their new home.