Tributes paid to talented former Redgate Software star who died after fall from his bike in France
A talented 53-year-old who helped design the world’s first smartphone and became a critical part of the success of Redgate Software has died after falling from his bike on a ride in France.
Tom Harris suffered a catastrophic and inoperable brain injury after coming off his bicycle while riding down a hill. He died in late May after his girlfriend, Ene, and brother, Owen, had seen him.
Simon Galbraith, founder of Cambridge Business Park-based Redgate, who worked with him for about 15 years during Tom’s two spells at the company, said he was filled with “deep sadness”.
Paying tribute, he said: “The ability to focus intensely all day, every day, year after year meant that Tom could master abstruse mathematics, but it also allowed him to master: software development, cycling, piano, squash, parsers, talent-spotting, maths coaching, being a kind and thoughtful friend and much, much more.”
Tom achieved a First class degree and PhD from the University of Cambridge in applied mathematics.
At Symbian, he helped Sony Ericsson design and deliver the R380s, which was marketed as the world’s first smartphone when it began shipping in 2000.
He joined Redgate in 2001, becoming its second employee, and writing its code alongside Neil Davidson, with whom he had studied maths at Trinity College, Cambridge.
On his LinkedIn page, Tom described the early days, writing: “Neil Davidson, Nick Wood and I worked in a pretty dingy office above Burger King in central Cambridge. After one week, I went to Peru…
“By the time I returned, Simon Galbraith had arrived and .NET went into beta. We never looked back!”
Simon said: “Between them, Tom and Neil wrote and/or rewrote all of the software that got us going as a company. Tom worked with Redgate for about 15 years and was involved in so much of what we became. He led our biggest division, he recruited a ton of talent, he was fundamental.
“In the decade or so since he left, he provided the social glue that kept other Redgaters and ex-Redgaters in close contact and was an integral part of that heart-warmingly sizeable community. We connected on many levels over more than two decades: I was his colleague, then his boss; he lived in my house for a couple of years, and was still living in a ‘live for free’ rental house that I’d set up. We’d travelled all over the world together and post-Redgate we WhatsApped and caught up regularly.”
In his message to the Redgate team, Simon recalled the last time he saw Tom.
“Two weeks ago, we went on a lovely bike ride and stopped in the Red Cow at Chrishall: an ancient, picturesque pub with a courtyard garden. We sat there outside in the sunshine, in perfect health, on a perfect day, leading a perfect life, with that easy relaxed banter that comes from a long acquaintance. He’d suggested another ride for this week and I had it pencilled in. That possibility was permanently rubbed out on Monday,” he said. “I know he died doing what he loved but it was far, far too early.”
Simon described Tom’s eccentricities – like heading off to the airport to go skiing in jeans and a shirt but no passport, and putting a pizza box in the oven complete with polystyrene base and shrink wrap. He also described his ability to find the truth of what was going on in a business.
“It was by talking to customers that he showed me how to find the truth,” Simon said. “When you’ve worked hard over months or years to build something, it’s incredibly easy to delude yourself about whether it works. You are so emotionally invested that it’s the norm to be wrong about what is going on. Tom’s brilliant understanding of the tech and his unusual emotional range made him perfect for this.
“When I befriended a socially awkward mathematical genius in 2001, I could never have expected that he would show me how to truly listen.”
Since 2016, Tom was self-employed.
Simon concluded: “Goodbye my brilliant and daft friend. I am missing you already.”
A tribute page has been set up at tomharris.muchloved.com.
