Gulf and Middle East Services
Edward E. Griffiths
SAD NEWS: IT IS WITH GREAT SADNESS TO NOTE THAT EDDIE PASSED AWAY IN DUBAI ON NOVEMBER 11TH 2010
medicine helvetica, illness sans-serif;”>Eddy, clinic known to me as ‘Fast Eddie’ was a great character. He hid his deep knowledge of the Gulf States and the various Royal Families with uncharacteristic shyness. I remember him enthralling the CEO of the Emirates Foundation in Abu Dhabi with his tales of the origins of the UAE States. His humour was profound, his lifestyle extravagant – I remember ‘meeting’ him for the first time at a night club in the ski resort Chinaillon in the French Alps wearing a white suit and dripping with gold medallions, surrounded by admiring beautiful women – his Ferrari parked safely outside. When I got to know him better, when he owned La Bornerie along with his wife Jackie in Chinaillon, I found a warm, friendly and humorous character and certainly not in the character of ‘medallion man’ that my former wife unkindly labelled him. But that was he, too much for some people and not around enough for others such as I.
My fondest memory was when I was dragging a Hobbie-Kat up the beach in Dubai Sailing Club (founded by Eddie) when he shouted out ‘Come on kid, you dont do it like that!’ – I didnt know that he was a superb sailor. But I knew he was an excellent skier and we often skied (normally from bar to bar I am ashamed to admit) together in Le Grand Bornand – he with the latest equipment and me, my usual lackadaisical self with anything goes. Another day in my memory was Eddie entertaining everyone in his bar at La Bornerie, deep snow outside but his other love, rugby, was on the TV with Wales (his birth place..well Shrewsbury..near enough for Eddie!) versus France. Eddie of course was berating everyone while supporting both sides!
One day we were together in Bahrain. Hey kid, you want to meet the Emir (the Ruler of Bahrain) says Eddie? OK, I say, not believing him. We crossed the island and walked around the Emir’s palace. Eddie approaches a security guard. ‘Is the Emir in?’ he asks. ‘Who are you” the response. ‘Just go and tell the Emir that Eddie is here, go on he knows me’. I was surprised and thought that was the end of it. The guard walked away. Eddie says wait, kid. We waited outside the gates. A few minutes later the guard returns, without saying anything, the gates swing open! ‘Follow me’ says the guard and two minutes later, the Emir was saying ‘Hi, Eddie how you bin? How’s Jackie?’.
Ha, Eddie, I think you left us all a bit too early. I shall miss you!
The kid (aka Mike Hopkins)
Eddie:
Postal Address : POBox53310, Dubai, United ArabEmirates.
GSM tel : +971 50 784 1532
Residence tel : +971 4 398 7781
Fax : + 971 4 398 7782
- UK trained professional Mechanical Engineer .
- Experienced businessman , with proven entreprenural flair , having long term contacts throughout the Middle East countries , Europe , USA and Asia.
- Able to work on own initiative and as part of team.
- Proven leadership skills having established a agency business representing some of the worlds largest and leading manufacturing and service companies in various business sectors… power generation / transmission : water / waste water treatment : oil / gas / petrochem. : construction : military .
- Company management consultant for both local Middle East companies and international concerns wishing to enter the region.
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