David B. Livingston, 57, died unexpectedly of natural causes on Saturday, July 31, 2010 at his home in Bethel, CT. His death was attributed to congestive heart failure complicated by Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
David was born July 23, 1953 in Sheridan Wyoming to Janet Elenita Wright and Harold Livingston, Junior, both having preceded him in death. David attended school in Sheridan, graduating from Sheridan High School in 1971. He received his B.A. in Economics, International Relations and Math from Johnston College, University of Redlands in 1976 and his M.A. in Resource and Environmental Economics from the University of Wyoming in 1979.
David was the Managing Principal and Founder of Llinlithgow Associates. He was a management consultant, with nearly 30 years of experience in business planning and analysis, strategy, product development and management, go-to-market operations, logistics and supply chain management and technology. His practice focused on business performance assessment and improvement and the design and development of management systems, as well as the linkages between business, the economy, markets and investment strategies.
After a short stint at Research Triangle Institute involved in applying advanced cost/benefit analysis to public policy issues, truncated by changes in policy during the early Reagan Administration, he was lucky enough to join Federal Express. At Federal he was the principal project manager on the design and deployment of an advanced budgeting system still used by the Company and then became involved in developing strategic changes in planning policies and procedures. After his tour in Corporate Planning he joined the Sales group to work on logistics, consultative selling and was the original strategist and a founding plank-owner in Federal’s initial efforts in developing Third Party Logistics offerings.
David then joined IBM where he was one of the early developers of Enterprise Business Architecture and the project lead and principal author of the first B2B inter-enterprise framework, Computer Integrated Logistics. Based on that he was the lead strategist and solution expert for several of IBM’s e-Business task forces and the Solution Executive for IBM’s TransConnect, a multiple enterprise, network-hosted transportation and supply chain offering. Followed by becoming the lead strategist on IBM’s e-business Supply Chains Solutions group startup. That work led to the development of the Websphere Business Integrator and the current approaches to Industry solutions frameworks by IBM’s Software Group, currently a major driver for the Company’s profits and growth.
David joined Viewlocity, a startup in the Integration Broker and Supply Chain solutions space, where he led the design and development of several event-driven supply chain solutions before becoming the executive in charge of the Company’s overall product management.
From Viewlocity he joined Avaya as Director of Solutions where he led the effort to adopt software-based development to telecommunications for Voice Over IP (VoIP) platforms and solutions.
Upon leaving Avaya David ran Llinlithgow developing a proprietary framework, BizzXceleration, for coupling the overall enterprise to the operating functions through integrated operation plans and management systems. He was also involved in the design and development of new applications in budgeting, decision-support and Healthcare. The BizzX framework provided a unified approach to analyzing enterprise performance and could be used to assess investment potential, improve enterprise performance and for corporate governance, performance monitoring, compensation and risk management.
An ideal day for David could have involved sailing on his sloop, enjoying a dinner of fine food and drink with friends, taking in a Broadway show, the symphony, a new museum exhibit or newly released movie, and then sitting back at home, relaxing with his pipe, listening to music and enjoying a single malt scotch.
David’s Friends Remember Him Best: “I knew Dave mostly through emails (and reading his blogs). We exchanged around 6000 emails since we -connected- around 2002. Dave's specialty was Economics, but he had a very wide-ranging mind and was interested in many things. Many were the times that I read something on the web about some arcane subject or other and couldn’t wait to send the link to Dave so he could respond with his thoughts. More often than not, he already was keeping a long file of links and articles on the topic already. It never ceased to amaze me. On all topics he was always interested in the Big Picture, -the overall structure- and how particular details of this or that article fit into this structure. Dave won our hearts with his constant adherence to Honor; honor in the old fashioned military sense. He had a terrific sense of humor. There was always a topic about which at least one of us disagreed with Dave. And we would tease him about his contrarian view. He always took our good-natured teasing with grace. I cannot recall ever an ungentlemanly comment by him in any correspondence by him that passed my way.”
“He had a brilliant mind and was uplifting and positive in his outlook. He always looked on the optimistic side of things when others of his correspondents (like me) had a negative view. Dave recommended good books on history like -A World History- by McNeill, which my book club and I read over the course of several months last autumn. I will always look upon Dave as an intellectual mentor who helped me to stretch my mind. I know that I will sadly miss Dave's writings and his cheerful nature. It will leave a void in the lives of all of his friends.”
“While I knew him for over 20 years, it is only recently that we have engaged in provocative and profound thoughts on myriad topics with our perhaps eclectic group of internet colleagues where he more than anyone served the key role of catalyst. Dave always had a new insight to spark our reaction often playing devils advocate, a role that came easy to him because he was probably one of the best-read people that I have ever encountered. Second, and this is a most personal statement, is my deep appreciation for the intellectual support that Dave provided to me on the topic of environmental economics nearly 20 years ago when I was doing the research for my doctoral dissertation. He put me on the right path, but perhaps most importantly a path that was many years ahead of its time in the field of logistics and supply chain management. Finally, I will miss his wit. Dry to be sure, but always there if you looked for it.”
“Dave and I shared a passion for improving transportation, logistics and supply chain practices – and we continued to share these common interests for many years. More recently, we began to communicate regularly by email – and I became involved in a sort of “club” of very interesting and knowledgeable people, some of whom I already knew, and most of whom have already written to you to express their sadness of the loss of a truly great person. Over time this “club” was the medium for the debate of many, many disparate types of issues, we always seemed to focus back on traditional areas such as education and transportation. These are topics where I particularly enjoyed interaction with all members of the group, and Dave was always the nexus of the group’s commentaries. Then, from time to time we would get off on the topic of politics, one where Dave was exceptionally well-versed, and never without his facts and his (subtle) opinions (with which I sometimes gently, or maybe not so gently took issue). In any event, the interactions with Dave and the group were refreshing interludes from some of the other things that have become routine parts of our daily lives. Overall, I will greatly miss Dave, as he always supported my interests, and me. He always had a kind word to say about everything. It is sad to lose someone like Dave, but we will all live on with only the best possible memories of a good friend.”
“Although I met David through our work together in IBM, what I most appreciated in my 20 year relationship with David was just how gentle and generous a man he was (is). David was always available, ready to step in and assist, and willing to take the time (always in short supply). He was always respectful, great with children - my oldest daughter, now 22 - recalled a conversation with David where he treated her and her ideas equally with his own, and appreciative of differing views. That my daughter recalls this so many years later is a great testimony. David possessed a great mind, and enjoyed the pursuit of new passions. I recall from a visit to his home, David showing me his new collection of art books and art primers, and his newly acquired classical music collection. Lots of lessons for me, and I always felt like I took more from David than I gave during our times together.”
“Dave took us out on Long Island Sound for a Sunday sail. I must say it was most reluctantly as we are 2 kids from the Midwest and never been or wanted to be on Long Island Sound in a sailboat. But we knew how much it meant to him and how proud he was to have us. He was in heaven. The best part was that when we got ready to come into the Marina, the wind was blowing us in hard and directly toward the rocks. Although we had told him from the start we had no clue what to do, he started yelling a bunch of things all at once. Well the short version is after he and I almost went overboard we narrowly missed the rocks and made it into shore with me vowing never, ever to set foot on that boat again. We never told him anything other than we had a wonderful time and he was so happy but he could never understand why we wouldn't go back out with him again!”
“Journey well my brother; there is still some sailing to do.”
Cremation has taken place. A memorial plaque will be placed on his parents’ graves in the Elks section of the Sheridan Municipal Cemetery. Memorial service to be held at the First Christian Church, two blocks from his childhood home, in Sheridan, WY, Pastor Douglas Goodwin presiding on Tuesday, September 14, 2010, at 10:00 a.m., reception to follow.
David is survived by his siblings, Tracy (Alan Miller), Dana (Janine) Livingston, and Mary Lou (Peter Oslund). Five nieces and nephews: Christian (‘Chris’) and Erika Oslund, Ian, Jenna, and Kelly Livingston, Aunts, Uncles, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Cousins and many Good Friends across the country.
Kind memorials can be to the American Heart Association -https://donate.americanheart.org/ecommerce/aha/aha_index.jsp, American Cancer Society - https://www.cancer.org/involved/donate/donateonlinenow/index, Susan G. Koman Foundation http://ww5.komen.org/Donate/Donate.html, or the National Multiple Sclerosis Society http://www.nationalmssociety.org/donate/index.aspx
The Sheridan Press - September 11, 2010.