Garry Betty: A Remembrance
Dan Greenfield, Garry Betty and Mike Gallentine
We lost a leader on Tuesday. EarthLink CEO Garry Betty succumbed to cancer before his time. Given his aptitude for figures, let’s hope the angels around the table can back up their numbers.
I knew Garry for more than six years. When it came to politics, religion and geography we couldn’t have been more different. We disagreed on candidates and baseball, but only this year did my Mets take the division from his vaunted Braves. One thing about Garry -- he hated to lose.
I will miss those debates as I learned a lot from Garry – especially sitting across the desk doing interviews with the media. Whether it was a seasoned journalist or new reporter who knew nothing about our business, Garry displayed consistent charm and patience. He was the consummate Southern gentleman. On occasions that the headline didn't match our expectations, I felt bad. I felt I had let him down.
Over the years, my respect for Garry the Internet business leader and Garry the man only grew. He was generous with his time and his good fortune. Working on corporate profiles, I learned about his unadorned beginnings, his work ethic and his ambition. He was around to witness the birth of the PC and the dawn of the ISP. Garry did not showboat. Yet he made his mark; you felt his presence.
Today was a particularly poignant day for me. Reporters calling…fact checking...pulling together dates and figures from Garry’s record of accomplishments to summarize one man's life in a few hundred words and several inches of column space. They needed confirmation of key milestones and metrics from his past. In days gone by, I would zip Garry an email asking for help. Shortly thereafter, an answer would come back. But not this time. He was not there to tell his story. It will now be up to us to do that for him.
Let me get back to you.
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