We received the sad news that Eric Gabriel, former Chairman of APM and former President of IPMA® passed away in mid September 2015. This is an occasion for reminding and appreciating his great contribution to our Association.

Eric Gabriel’s career in IPMA began already as a member of the Council of Delegates in the first period of IPMA (called “INTERNET” at that time) as a formally established organisation:

• Member of the Council of Delegates in 1979 to 1982
• Vice President and Member of the ExBo in 1982 to 1985
• IPMA President in 1985 to 1988
• Chairman of the Council of Delegates in 1988 to 1991

It was not astonishing that Eric became an IPMA® Honorary Fellow after a dozen years of successful engagement in the top management of IPMA. The following Nineties became a challenging time for IPMA in which finally the universal IPMA four-level certification system was generated and implemented. Eric Gabriel and Martin Barnes were the 4-L-C First Assessors for the United Kingdom.

Eric Gabriel participated often in the IPMA Expert Seminar. Picture 1 shows the management team for the seminar in Oxford, UK, in June 1984 on “Project Start-Up” with Eric as Chairman of APM and VP of IPMA on the right hand side, Steen Lichtenberg as current IPMA President back in the middle and Morten Fangel as Project Start-Up promoter on the left hand side.

Picture 1: Expert Seminar Oxford June 1984

Eric Gabriel was also part of the steering committee for the IPMA Expert Seminar in April 1989 on what we would call to-day the organisational competence of managing projects, programmes and portfolios. I discussed the topic with the head of our University Institute and finally we came up with the Swiss German English title “Integration of projects into the company organisation”. In the team meeting we discussed thoroughly about the content and structure for the Expert Seminar. Eric listened and made a short summary: Is’nt this Management by Projects?

Eric wrote his key-note paper with the title “Management by Projects – The New Management” as well as an “Opening Address” which is worth reading still today (Proceedings of the 13^th International Expert Seminar April 6-8, 1989). The theme was followed up in the IPMA Congress 1990 in Vienna and much work by Roland Gareis and other researchers and developers.

When the IPMA Expert Seminar was revived in the year 2008 with the general title “Values and Ethics in the Project Management” Eric Gabriel was an active participant in the seminar again. Picture 2 shows him in the centre of the picture, with a dark red pullover.

Picture 2: Expert Seminar Zurich February 2008

Of the IPMA Presidents, Eric Gabriel had probably the best industrial practice background, together with Roberto Mori. He was working for Foster Wheeler, a large international engineering and construction company in the oil, gas, energy, water and infrastructure sector. The company has offices in many countries around the globe, their Headquarter is in Reading UK, their roots were in the United States and their legal seat was in Switzerland. At the end of the year 2014 the British AMEC took over FW.

Eric’s activities were not limited to industrial projects. He became the project manager of the New East Wing for the National Gallery in London, in the next phase of his professional career.

From this practical background IPMA® got an excellent basis for its development. The meetings chaired by Eric Gabriel were not noisy, but full of friendly statements and listening, an entrepreneurial optimism, realistic judgements and fair negotiations. We appreciated his substantial contributions and his beautiful human culture very much.

by Hans Knoepfel