John Bambridge

My Sincerest condolences to John's family and friends. I first met John at the end of 1999, when I was brought onboard and joined the epoline project. For nine years I worked in his team - an insightful, quick thinking, and kind man. He was also very funny, with a sharp wit that pocked fun at the grandiose or pretentious. A big loss.

My sincere condolences to all John's family. This sad and tragic news was truly a shock. I have known John since the early EPO days in the Hague (1982 in my case) when most of the English crowd were basically fresh out of university. Despite my being away from the office for many years, our paths still crossed on several occasions and it was always a pleasure to have such warm and friendly discussions with him. A sad loss. May he rest in peace.

When I met John end of the 1990s in the PHOENIX project (the first project where I had the pleasure and honour to work with John), there was this endless and fascinating belief in what we can achieve together as a team, a vision, a dream – and with John in the lead the dream came true and PHOENIX started to serve the users with images of the whole patent grant process while the paper-file was still the working document. Today, many years later, we are still building on this system, we are fully paper-less and certainly new systems have taken over but the foundations were laid during these days which remain an unforgettable team experience. John has led many other projects in the meantime, our paths have crossed several times and without him and his mentorship I wouldn’t have had many opportunities for which I am so thankful. I have always admired John’s power of inspiration and he has always brought knowledge and imagination together. He knew where he wanted to go to and how the office would be working many years ahead and, even more importantly, how we would get there. And John took people along with him on this journey, offering trust, recognition, and a deep sense of belonging and being part of a future-thinking community, I have always considered this as a privilege. We will never forget when John spoke on stage about the projects with a simulation running behind him, also when he spoke about the 40 years of automation in which he has played a significant part. Outstanding have been John’s rhetorical talent and his ability to fascinate his audience with all his insights and expertise on which all this was solidly based!! – Not to forget his humour and his passion for IT developed by a group of like-minded colleagues. Last time when we met (virtually) was during the preparations for the 50 years celebration for the European Patent Convention where John contributed, again, with all his memory from the IT side. - Hearing that John has passed away makes us endlessly sad and I fear that he could not even see the exhibition in Munich any longer and this exhibition exactly speaks about “his time” and shows these IT projects. John would have loved it!! It has taken us a while to understand that John has passed away, actually we don’t. We are so sad and depressed and we would like to send our sincerest condolences to John’s family. And we will never forget him!! – Hans-Georg Vogler and Sabine Menrath “Gute Menschen gleichen Sternen. Sie leuchten noch lange nach ihrem Erlöschen.“

Dear John, you were the drive with Ciaran, Arnold and Madeleine being the launch of all our EPOLINE services, such great memories of working together for its success. I wish you to rest in peace. All my condolences to your family and friends.

Dear John, you were a great boss and I thank you so much for empowering me. You gave me trust and faith in myself. You have such a great heart and I will miss you a lot.

I will always remember your passion, vision, & professionalism . Rest in peace.

Our heartfelt condolences to John's family. Since we first met John in 1981 at the EPO he never changed. He was always that kind, intelligent gentleman with a mischievous sense of fun. We had such fun together in those early EPO days, he was with us when we got married and was our daughter Joanna’s godfather. We last saw him in person in early 2022. I asked him “Are you happy John?”. He paused and said thoughtfully “I believe I am”. He deserved a long and happy life, which has so sadly been cut so short. The world will miss you John xxxx

With great sadness I learned about your passing, dear John! I've been very lucky to know, work and enjoy the odd celebrations with you. You have been a role model, an inspirational spirit and a motivational leader for many. The memories will last. Farewell my friend! Warm hugs to your friends and family!